It's crucial to choose a market with steady job growth, low vacancy rates, and tenant demand.

In my day job I’m an ops professional who manages a tech stack and efficiency is important.

But if your goal is to leave your day job soon, multi family will offer more cash flow typically.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

Property is in Granite City, tenant lost his job, and has stopped responding to texts and emails. 

well thats part of the job  checking out your collateral.. :)  

If you really have gone from 3 to 200 properties this past year while having a two W2 jobs, you seem to have found your niche and doing well, good for you. 

Consider starting with a smaller, more affordable multifamily to keep your mortgage low and cash flow positive—even if it’s not your dream property.

Also, magistrates don't even have to be lawyers to get the job!

It saddens me to see millions of people strapped to their jobs, trying to protect their holy grail 401K, until they are 60, and then start taking their "distributions", having a couple of decades left to live.