If your financial models DEPEND on future hypotheticals, you're not investing--you're speculating.

Hoping to leverage his market expertise to find excellent deals. 

Well worth it to find your right guy.... thats my model  hire GC who already has a sub base and will work for a flat rate per door.. of course you have to give them a lot of doors to make it worth their time.. doing 5 to 10 a year may or may not do it depending on what the GC has in his/her pipeline.  

., etc.In other words, it's not really possible to give you much of an answer to your question without knowing more information...If you post the relevant details, then folks here will definitely help you out.  ...in addition to describing some of the details I mentioned above, I'd suggest posting a financial model of the type of property you're considering (including downpayment, rate, mortgage payment, rent income, and all other relevant income and expenses)....if you're not yet sure about those details, then I'd suggest studying up on real estate--listen to BP podcasts, read articles, study the forums, watch YouTube videos, maybe even buy a book on the particular investing strategy you're interested in (since you're a beginner, I'd highly recommend reading up on house hacking). 

If you had a lot of time on your hands you may want to consider doing a few things and seeing which one you like better because your passion and expertise as @Jared Hottle said will play a big role in your future success.

Hello all, I'm looking for guidance on this topic from the community if anyone has any expertise.

I am a little further West in Chicago, but I can tell you plenty of my friends have used the rent-by-the-room model and the cash flow is amazing. 

They have the expertise and you act an an apprentice in the process.  

This added to all the businesses moving to that market bodes well for investment value and low vacancy.For reading I would recommend a thorough financial modeling and underwriting book for multifamily real estate, in my opinion, this should be the foundation.

If I am not mistaken, there are a few big hospitals there so the MTR model might be a good fit.