Fortunately, I had thick enough margins to start out, but this definitely impacted my valuations model in an unexpected way.

This is an answer I've had to come up with myself regarding what I feel is comfortable for me-one thing I will say is I've set a goal of at least 12-15% given that I could get 8% on average (and have been fortunate enough to have gotten more like 15% over the last few years) simply putting my money in the stock market and not having to worry about it.

Remember as kiyosaki says: Free investment advice could cost you a fortune.

Here is my real LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleu-lee/  This is where I keep most of my professional contacts. 29 Years of hard work, Fortune 100 employers, references, solid education and global networking summed up in a single profile. 

@Lucas Carl, Chattanooga is a great place, I was fortunate to visit last year!

I have completed 3 day bootcamp of REI with Fortune Builder and would like to network with you and we can help each other.

Contractors can charge a small fortunate right now.  

I've been fortunate enough to not have to deal with this situation just yet and I wanted to see what BP could provide before I made my move, but I guess those questions aren't warranted here.

True, your cash-flow will be lessor, but if done right (and a little good fortune), you could easily end up with double digit properties and an extra $100K or so in hand by the end of the 2 years.

Many Fortune-500 Human Resources departments use the theory of 70-20-10 in developing employees which apply here. 70% is learned by doing, 20% learned from peers, and 10% is academic/book/classroom training.