You are fortunate to be in Indiana and close to where so many people are wanting to invest.

Fortunately the numbers make sense.

I'm fortunate enough to have a tenant who pays on time and have not caused any trouble, fingers crossed of course. 

Now I'm ready to take action and start looking for my own first deal.Here's my plan and what I'm ultimately looking to accomplish:I was fortunate and disciplined enough to build up some savings through my previous business endeavors to have as working capital knowing one day I would go eventually go into REI.

We were fortunate to only have two payments that got held up in the "problem". 

We own 6 rentals, about to become 8 (already own the 2 others but they are coming online in next 2-4 months).1 of these is owned under a Self Directed IRA.They are nice properties that we've taken a lot of pride in, and we've been able to generally speaking find the kinds of tenants that I think will lend to our places keeping up over time.We've been fortunate to build approaching $900k in equity over the last 3.5 years. 

I️ was fortunate enough to have my grandparents co-sign on the loan for me and use a HELOC on their paid off home.

We have a huge health care population here as well as a few anchor fortune 500 companies.

He was fortunate enough to graduate with no student loans and drives a beat-up 99' Corolla, meaning no car payments.

Ervis Meto that's fortunate that those around you are interested in investing and real estate .That's not the case for everyone.Sounds like your friends and coworkers could be a good source for private money or partnerships for future deals.I definitely agree it's good to position yourself even if you aren't ready to invest right now .