It is probably be better to hire a property management company for your rental projects so you can concentrate more on income production and headaches every time your phone rings.  

Our goal is to increase our net worth, to help supplement retirement income down the road and to currently provide a stream of cash flow to enjoy some of the finer things in life.We both work full time in professional careers and have so far found a way to manage careers and the real estate business while keeping up with two kids (15 yrs & 20 Yrs old).  

I wondered why the City of South Bend would hire an out of town company for the study until I looked at their national client list which includes over 450 reports for builders, developers, cities, non-profits, planners, investors, lenders, small companies and development subsidiaries of several Fortune 100 companies.You can read the report here https://www.southbendin.gov/sites/default/files/fi...The report is mainly about the residential market potential of downtown South Bend but the gist of it as it relates to your question is that on page 5 it states that approximately 60% of the households in the entire City of South Bend are owner occupied and 40% are tenant occupied.The US Census Bureau data confirms this with their latest data showing appx 59% owner occupants and 41% tenant occupied here:  https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/...

Remember this is a business and you need to keep it professional.

It is the prime and hot area for young professionals.

She found a new professional job before we applied for the mortgage, but Wells Fargo would only count my salary when they were figuring out our debt : income ratio because she had not been "continuously employed for the past 6 months".  

Just thought I felt compelled enough to share my thoughts, as it's very difficult working with a part time agent on the other end of a deal from a professional standpoint as well. 

***i'm not tax strategist or CPA***with that in mind i think that is a good idea to talk with your tax professional, speaking for myself my tax professional wasn't very helpful along the lines of exploring creative ways to utilize SDIRA''s if you need a custodian that deals with this topic and  can counsel you on any options that you could utilize this site could be an option to check out: www.trustetc.com.............they may be able to help you in achieving your goals 

"Steady income" and "newly licensed real estate professional" don't belong in the same paragraph. 

If you want to 10x yourself, thing bigger and more creatively....and consider hiring a coach in the area of your focus (see links - first one is from my coach on ways to get into MF investing; the second is an interview I did to share ideas on how I got involved and accelerated my experience, learning and income).