Perhaps invest in a short term CD like 3 months before I deploy the capital again.  

This can especially be true if they make 100k or less at the job or business and made most equity through SFR run up off of a down cycle.Investors that make 300k,500k,1 million a year in income tend to have a different mindset as they have a lot of capital coming in month to month to deploy.  

I am also a great believer in investing when there is distress and deploying capital when you can. 

For me, investing in individual notes is both risky and too much work to keep a large allocation continuously deployed when they are coming due and more due diligence has to be constantly done.

I own a home in the Springs, bought in 2005 after a deployment.

I am in a rather unique position in terms of money so people who like planning and hypotheticals will probably be interested.For reasons I won't be detailing I have come into about $500k that I am interested in deploying into real estate opportunities.

I suggest you use the extra income from any deployments, tax free, COLA and start saving up for house down payments.  

What WILL impact that goal is your decision about whether or not to truly save a significant portion of that $40K salary and deploy it to the most profitable use as seems reasonable to you.

Though many people debate the validity or applicability of the 1% rule, for small MF properties, I'd say you should deploy it as a barometer for the deals you are starting to analyze. 

Max out the Roth and leave some capital on the sidelines to deploy if you do find a killer deal.