You might also want to consider "The Simple Man's Guide to Real Estate."

Beyond that, I am intrigued by the possibility of building a portfolio of small multifamily properties and generating cash flow to increase my flexibility and time with my two young sons.  

It seems simple enough, and the honest thing to do.

The more I look into it, I'm not sure which version of QuickBooks would be best, online vs desktop, Self Employed vs Simple Start, etc. 

So far I've been hunting for a first investment (probably a simple SFH for long term rental) in my backyard, but not finding much in Davis County.

Therefore, you can't sell the home to yourself to increase the tax basis.  

A quick mls search shows the cheapest apartment rented in Framingham that was listed in the last 6 months was rented for 925 and Ashland $975 so it looks like you have room to increase rents if your building is in decent shape.  

I am focusing on wholesaling to keep it simple since I can't handle my own deals and not too many Escrow Officers do what I do proficiently, so my niche has bumped me out of buying as an investor in my area.

@Jose Jose, glad to hear you're thinking about this- water savings are an amazing way to increase your return.

I do have some large projects in the pipeline which could increase that number by another 100K or so but its safe to say low 300's and I will have a tax bill of about 50K this year so ultimately it is very safe to say I am liquid for 250K right now that I'm ready to invest.Due to my job I have access to subcontractors of all trades... roofing, tile, granite, flooring, paint etc at pretty much cost (day rates of the actual laborers).