As a  young married couple with decent income, we seem to be in an ideal position to start out investing fairly early, it is only a matter of getting real estate education and making deals happen.I have to confess, I have been a member of BP for about a year now.

You mentioned that is not an ideal situation.

Current tenant may be willing to owner finance since the payment to me would be only slightly more.How would I deal with the pitfalls of the mortgage company calling the loan, insurance, taxes, etc?

State refund check is a decent size, but going straight to emergency savings (which I feel is not bolstered enough if things were to ever go sideways).I'm in this weird limbo with wanting to accelerate debt payoffs AND save a good amount for a venture into RE AND bolster emergency money (like 6+ months of living expenses saved...ideally 9-12 months would be nice). 

Credit it important but not my top priority.....depends on why the credit is lower than you would ideally have.....late payments, collections, huge balances...vs they have high debt but make all their payments...have some stuff lingering from recent divorce etc.

I'm 28 and thinking of buying a triplex that was built in 1910, I would ideally hold this property for the next 15-20 years.

In most markets/cases, the ideal investments are C properties in B areas.

This exercise will help you ascertain the terrain, location and its fitting into your ideal property.(8)PROPER DUE DELIGENCE: This is the most important aspect of the whole tips and actually summarizes it all.

Hello @Amber Barger As an individual who's business is based around social media marketing, I would say it is a MUST for anyone, in any industry to interact with their ideal audience to remain relevant. 

(He also pays using money order, which is less than ideal since we have to go to the bank to deposit it).