I have lived in KC for 8 years and have had the ability to live in different places around town.

Local zoning authorities have the ability to damage an investors fee-simple ownership rights - so to speak - and there is another duplex in another local metro city I have the same problem with.Condo Conversions don't involve county government and are done through the state-level Common Interest Ownership Act by recording a condo map, declarations, and bylaws to create separate legal descriptions, which the Assessor then puts in its records. 

Speaking in broad generalities here:  IF the high loan balance is "covered" by a high enough rent it probably won't affect your loan-ability as much as you would think with a high loan balance. 

Tying up my private money with long term assets not only costs more in the short term and hurts cash flow, but limits my long term ability to secure more properties.

While it lacks the ability to scale beyond what you are capable of doing yourself (until maybe you get some bird dogs), it can definitely help you to get started.I wouldn't worry about the number of leads you generate by doing this. 

My license has given me the ability to network with various investors who are like-minded and have similar goals to mine.

The best thing to keep an eye out for are tools that give your tenants additional capabilities which makes it an easier sell on your end when getting them to transition over (ie. their ability to report on-time rent payments to build credit; this can create an added incentive for making sure they pay that rent on time).

Even though I am confident in my abilities to identify most issues, I always hire an inspector for the following reasons:(a)  it is a second set of trained eyes looking for problems(b)  any problems I find without an inspection could not be used to retrade or cancel the contractI consider the $400 a bargain when it comes to getting another opinion on structural issues with a six-figure purchase. 

I know this sounds like quite the variance but there are elements of all these cities that my family really enjoys.

@Marco MorkousIt's never the number of properties you have, It's whether YOU have the ability to scale up your skills and abilities to handle what you are taking on.