You have the right mentality and I'm sure you'll achieve the success you are after.

Personally What I would do is look for a "steal" of a property.....buy short sale, forclosure, etc etc something that you will gain equity the day you sign the papers.......bring the property up to value.....cash out refinance....pay off your student loan with the profit.......and have the property properly leveraged and cash flowing moving forward.....Don't be afraid of rehab...i did my first two years ago....bought a property for about 50k under area comparbles.....put 15k in carpet, paint, counter tops, new light fixtures, doorknobs and such.......refi'd got my money back,and increase my net worth by 35k.....My mentality now is "why ever pay retail again"

But in the meantime, prepare yourself mentally for the fact that you are almost certainly going to have to write the tenant a check.

Another factor is the follow the herd mentality - people just think the RE prices will continue to rise in perpetuity.As we all know, increasing RE prices cannot be sustained and will eventually revert to their mean.  

I like to be conservative with my numbers so that I can (mentally) take financial hits better as they come up, so the real numbers when said and done might end up slightly better depending on rent/repair costs.I know my numbers aren't fantastic compared to others on BP, but like you said I am very excited to "get in the game."

It's knowledge that keeps us from learning the wrong thing or way of doing something.A wise person doesn't act without knowing, a foolish person does.Unlike driving a car or building a machine or building a house, real estate requires mental skills not physical skills.

I don't have much experience in Real Estate beside working for property management of multimillion dollar homes and a property I used to live in and "manage" but squandered the opportunity because of lack mental preparation. 

He was costing me time, money and most importantly unnecessary mental stress!!

I'm not an architect of erecting a building, but mentally; I take an idea and work it to my reality.

Its the mentality we have: "to make money regardless to what property looks like.."