My long-term goal is to achieve financial independence through semi-passive real estate income combined with my wife's salary.   

In this case it is referred to as good debt because it allowed you to achieve a beneficial outcome of which you would otherwise not been able to achieve.

You keep repeating this "success cycle" until you achieve your target goal.

We are estimating that we can achieve this in a 12 month period. hard budget & contract are in place. 

Have you looked into strategies for achieving this?

This whole blogging is new for us as the majority of our business is achieved through word of mouth - I didn't want to get on here and broadcast anyones personal business as I did not think it was necessary. 

Build a network of people that can help you achieve your real estate goals.  

The book I am reading says I need 2500 people in my "haven't met" list to market to 12 times a year in order to achieve 50+ listings.My idea is to get a list from Alesco Data and have it filtered for the surrounding cities where I live.

So she received a referral to a different property manager that handles rents under $1,000 per month.When my mom hired the new property manager, she conducted a new Property Condition Report that recommended $5,575 in renovations to achieve $1,000 in rent.

By the way, congrats on achieving such a great feat in such a short time period