Please share your experience and what you would do in my shoes!

My goal is to retire at 40 and live life to the fullest and I know that is only capable by finding alternate passive sources of income.I've spent the past 6-8 months researching and learning more about Real Estate and am I am now joining BiggerPockets to learn more from people that were once in my shoes.

If I were in your shoes I'd be looking at areas slightly but not significantly better than linden.

In your shoes I would go for property #3 and perhaps hold in reserves the down payment on property #4.It doesn't look like a good time to be stretching your neck out. 

If I was in your shoes I would look for a cash heavy partner so you do not use up your cash reserves or just pass on the deal. 

So, I was in your shoes many years ago with having too much debt to my income.

For the boomers' own good.You are not thinking of a pointless saving 5% on some shoes; you're thinking of a house. :)

I believe there's nothing more important than my credibility; borrowing and pay back history is one of the best way to showcase that. 

If you were in my shoes, what would you do?

{Ultimately, if the business is a good price, in a descent area and the assets are in good condition, you may not really care what the market average is}.Now, when underwriting this business make certain you capture the correct rents (and compare them to market averages); make an allowance for economic vacancy; add any ancillary revenue streams (I typically do not) to get your effective gross revenue.On the operating costs side, be certain to capture all the costs and whenever possible obtain your own estimates independent of the vendor supplied information (after all, you are interested in what it will cost you to operate the building).In my experience, a 25% CoC is somewhat optimistic for a building that is stabilized in a solid neighbourhood and, in your shoes, I would assume something was missed and revisit my analysis.