Lastly, I'm a current homeowner and have started to think about our next move.

"Jump off the Cliff". 

I am not aware of the zoning, don't have enough contacts here so I figured Its better for me to focus and start with renting ideally to get my hand on RE.Regarding my finances: Last 2 years had some small private biz (1099).

I estimated the down payment with the closing fees would be around 12k and I could finalize saving that after I start my new job as a Project Engineer for a multifamily construction company next month.

We are looking to invest out of state, and we have small cash to start.

It was hard to say goodbye to my babies I started this journey back in 2006 (18 years ago) The truly sobering thing about this event is that I was able to achieve these same financial results in ONE year with my first larger commercial deal; and replace my wife's income with that deal.  

How Technology Changed My Real Estate Business in the Last 25 Years25 years ago I decided to “formalize” by hard money / private money investments and start an investment fund and syndicate these note opportunities.

So congratulation on making the decision to get started.

We started off on a good note with the tenant, he paid his rent on time, and so we didn't have a real reason to get too involved.

If you play this out, the property value starts dwarfing the loan principal.What does that mean?