But until then I'm trying to catch up to speed with books, pod cast and mentoring sessions to make sure that I have enough of an understanding to be successful in this venture.  

Speed of repair and availability of parts is no different - if you were living there, and you didn't know how to fix it, you'd be spending the same $250 and waiting the same amount of time for the part, and it's nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

I'm really hoping to get some good qualities opinions about where to go from here.

@Kyle WegenerSince your plan is to acquire a porfolio of properties, don't speed up your payments. 

Budget is important, but so is buying a quality home (not fancy, just solid and in a good area).You said your plan is to buy more rentals, so use that money as a down payment.

high quality furnishings and providing above average marketing to my listing sites.

If you pick a higher quality paint through Sherwin-Williams you can setup a contractor account first and save upwards of 20-25% off, or wait for a sale. 2.

Most of the quality multi families seems to be 700k+, but I think I can still find a property in a good neighborhood of Baltimore that fits the bill sub 450k

Of course, if this is a larger scale project, the cost of the lack of speed is higher.

Check out BP's David Greene and Anson Young for quality materials.