Using our W2 jobs to keep our household budget running along as usual, we plow all rental income into paying off the short term loans and making long term CapEx investments. 

We used a HML (really before transactional funding was a household name among investors) to secure the transaction with the bank and flipped it the same day to an investor who wanted to live there temporarily then move onto another home/project.

Its still likely $15,000 - $30,000 depending on your area, but as a dual income household saving $15,000 - $30,000 could be achievable pretty quickly!

Many starting salaries in accounting, especially on the East coast start at above the median household income and I promise you a solid W2 job will help get you started and go a long way.Like I said though, it really depends on your particular situation.  

-Annual Household Income (we have a minimum income limit of 3x rent)?

The median household income in Henderson is $62,592 a year, and when adjusted for the city’s low cost of living, it is about $600 higher.

These parameters will help decide what kind of yields you are searching for, which you can use to filter down your list of macro markets.Then I would start by looking at the macro market's fundamentals, that is the population, job and income growth over time.After that, I would look to see what the rents and home prices are and how those are trending as well.I would do a similar analysis, but at the sub-market level for the metro area you are considering investing in.Other metrics that I find valuable to understand are household income, poverty, unemployment, and educational attainment.

The fine is for use OTHER than normal household use. 

I'm going to be getting into some rental properties but I have no income (my husband is the only working member of my household) so I was worried about how many loans we could get. 

@Joshua Dorkin The big thing we have changed is our household budget.