When investing in rentals, from what I have understood, the idea is to use others money to create cash flow for yourself, this is fantastic, but when do you focus more on paying off your units rather than making more deals?

I would agree that it is harder and harder to find good opportunities, but I am still focused on value add multi family investing as I feel it is the best strategy for me long term. 

Focus on what you can afford, not what you want.

This is where Real Estate Investing has become a central focus.

My area of focus is buy/hold with value add opportunity for small multi family residential units around KS and MO. 

I'll put more focus into that; thanks!

I decided that would be a better use of my time to just focus on deals in Omaha.

I got no gameplan and I am new... i want to find a way to focus my energy and time to get my first deal.   

Focus on the end goal.With extreme cases, I try to identify any barriers that would make it difficult for the tenant to move, do what I can to address those barriers and make the move easier for the them.

I'd REALLY like to buy locally, but in the Atlanta market, property values are so much higher than rent - and my investment strategy focuses on cash flow, so the numbers just don't make sense.