You can Drive 4 Dollar , do other marketing while employed... that will give you time to ramp up into real estate investing knowledge...as well as W2 for bank financing if needed.

Save and buy your second property.I'd also advise to buy in locations where rental market will always be strong, not dependent on one type of employer or industry. 

It you communicate your rental criteria to prospective tenants in advance before accepting an application and application fee (required in Washington State), you would not run into this problem.It's perfectly fine to reject an application or approve it with conditions based on legal rental criteria.You may want to use a standard form, such as an "Adverse Action Notice".Here's some information from the one we use:----------ADVERSE ACTION NOTICEApplicant name ____________Applicant mailing address ___________This notice is to inform you that your application to rent the property located at ______________  has been:[] Rejected[] Approved with conditions:[] Residency requires an increased monthly rent of $_____[] Residency requires increased [] fee or [] deposit of $ _____[] Residency requires last month’s rent[] Residency requires a qualified guarantor[] Other requirementAdverse action on your application was based on one or more of the following:[] Information contained in a consumer credit report *[] The consumer credit report did not contain sufficient information *[] Information received in a criminal record[] Information received in a civil record[] Information received from references[] Information received from previous rental history or reference[] Information received from employment verification[] Inaccurate, false, or misleading statements or missing critical information on the application*If you were rejected based on a consumer credit report, you can request a copy of your credit report for free from the below-checked agency.[] Experian[] Equifax[] TransunionDated this day of ________.Agent/Owner Signature _________

As for the best sellers it is difficult to tell because you will likely have a small sample size, my guess is that it will be people who want to move to a new city or state and are on a time crunch to do so.

What size of land?

Will you immediately go larger, or stay around this size for the next few?

People invest in RE in many different ways and I do not think it is a one size fits all venture.

Because we get no benefits, we have to pay for private healthcare insurance, and save for retirement out of our income with no matching funds from an employer.  

Smaller to mid size banks usually better for this.  

@Tina JenkinsIf your 401(k) is with your current employer, then you likely do not have much in the way of options.