I suspect we'll be doing more tweakings along the way.Our biggest expenses are really just F&B and airtix when we travel.

If that were the case, I could just flip with a pretty good profit.For me the biggest positive is that I can get a $0 down loan (as it is attached to my primary residence), I know the exact condition of the property and what I can expect in rent.

@Tiffany Plovie I will take your advice under consideration, I guess the biggest delay was that I was dealing with this situation personally rather than business like, and need to put the personal aside and handle the business at hand

My biggest set back is lack of knowledge and what the first step is.

That would be my biggest fear.Here's some good background if you're interested:  http://kcur.org/post/how-troost-became-major-divide-kansas-city

So if you buy a 100K home and you put down 20K you'll have a mortgage of 80K @ 5% for this example your payment would be $429 and say the rent is $600 you can use 75% of that which is $450.If you make 2K a month here is the DTI breakdown which should be your biggest concern with what you're trying to do.  2K + $450= $2,450 of incomeDebt: 429 + ( New home payment ( $750) ) = $1,179.00  New home would be the primary residence that you talked about buying.Assuming you have no car payments or c.c. payments or personal loans your debt to income ratio would be 48.1% which is acceptable under FHA guides ( up to 54.9% ) but pretty high for conventional ( 43 and under is pretty secure but I've seen up 49% with major reserves)  You would also need 429 x 6 = $2,574.00 in reserves for your Investment Property6 months of reserves = $2,574.00Total income $2,000 base + $450 ( 75% of 600 )Liabilities = $1,179.00I know sometime I'm all over the place but plug in your real numbers with these and add taxes, insurance and credit cards, car payments and any personal loans and try to keep your total DTI under 43%For taxes do 1.25% x the sales price and .3% x the sales price for Home Owners Insurance. 

Usually the biggest thing with a borrower is proving you are actually their new Mortgagee and not a wholesaler trying to work with them.  

Since vacancy is your biggest enemy in the rental business that can be a big benefit. 

Especially with a potential casino going in, I feel as though more and more people will be going closer to the city.I agree with your thoughts on a PM - But hey, if making money on real estate were easy, then everyone would be doing it!

As a newbie, one of my biggest fears is underestimating repair costs.