Pick up Dave Ramsey's book "The Total Money Makeover".

If you're talking owner occupied, meaning you're going to live there, it seems like choosing between those two areas is the primary consideration, then once you've picked that market you can dive down to consider specific properties.For your own personal residence, usually other life factors such as proximity to your place of employment and family considerations (spouse/partner, children, parents/extended family) are even more important than real estate investment.

I hesitate to call the current market a bubble - there's just too much up in the air to really see what's what, and while RE is a big part of the general health and status of the economy, there are a number of other factors that determine what / when / how the correction happens.The bigger they are, the harder they fall, so unless we (collectively as a society) really have our crap together (which we don't), when we eventually do go down I think it's gonna be a doozy. 

The calculated amount must be distributed or there are significant tax penalties.My point is to work with your tax advisor to determine what distributions the account will be subject to, and to ensure that your investment strategy creates enough cash liquidity each year to meed this obligation. 

That had to take so much determination and sheer will not to give up when most people would have.

If the duplex is vacant at the moment determine what you can rent each unit for.

Pick your strategy  , then go after it !

Very new to the real estate world just looking to meet new interesting people and pick up a nugget or two from you along the way.

Also the type of loan is a big determining factor, i.e.

I'll just look at prices from now on and just hope that I pick a good market to invest in