We also do a deep dive on the area looking at population and job growth, net migration, and employment diversification.

I use a scratch-N-dent place outside of Philadelphia, PA (private owner, small company) and after my last appliance purchase back in April 2018, he said the same thing.. all appliances went up about $25-100 depending on size (so a standard 30" frigidaire SS went from $1500 up to $1600 now), etc. 

I'm fortunate to have good employment and a decent VA Disability check in the meantime.

I have been thinking about strategies of growing my real estate unit portfolio in size, but any way I looked, I was running into limitations (high LTV for conventional loans, expensive real estate with low cap, 1031) but nothing felt quite right until I came across the BRRRR strategy.

Hey BiggerPockets,I'm interested in starting my real estate investing with small apartment buildings (around 5-12 units) in the Pittsburgh area but am having a tough time finding real estate agents who excel with these property types.Any suggestions on generating leads and finding agents who specialize in this apartment building size?

Sometimes its hard when you built a trustworthy and reliable team to not continually using them but you can always use them in different assets classes and investment types in the same general area for a good size of your portfolio.You live in a nice spot as Cincy and Columbus are only an 1 hour away but those markets are pretty hot right now.. and Indy has always been known for a solid rental market..

You don't want to deduct too many "business meals" for example.From my experience talking with banks so far, it is much easier to get loans when you are employed. 

Will try and price it for average sized rooms.

The property is all zoned residential and had a single family house, 2 small apartments, and 2 good sized auto shops with office space.

There are a handful of similar sized, similar aged houses in town.