@Hayden Wright higher cap rate is not always better, capture initial equity through value-add, reserves should be substantial and you will likely use them, if you buy off of a long-time owner be sure to budget for insurance and property taxes to be a lot more than they’ve been paying, buy in an area where rents and property values are going up (good market fundamentals like lots of jobs in diverse fields, affordability (wages can pay the rent), population growth, good schools, low crime etc.).

We also want to make sure the jobs aren't too heavily weighted to one industry, so we look at the economic diversity as well. 

The low cost of doing business, diverse business base, availability of professional and skilled workforce, intermodal transportation hub and quality lifestyle continue to attract people and business.

It's a healthy and diverse economy with projected growth, but its also a city surrounded by open build-able land, which means it doesn't have the same kind of condensed urban core, where scarcity of land drives rapid appreciation like in other major cities. 

IF you do max out your own credit by buying SFH’s you can always move on to a syndicate at that point- Tax benefits and CoC - you get all of the same tax benefits between a SFH and a multifamily although the economies of scale may make a cost segregation study more economically viable with a larger asset- TLDR - safer leverage with direct RE, non-callable, possibly non-recourse, along with tax benefits - it’s pretty much the same with multifamily although given the diverse cash flows from multiple units I could argue that the leverage on a multi is safer. 

You have such a great resource here to help you build a large and diverse real estate portfolio.

Or do the engineers think diversity of thoughts/ideas will not benefit them? 

J Scott’s book “Recession Proof Real Estate Investing” gives great info on the topic.However, Buy in area of pop growth, job growth, rent growth and high economic job diversity (near major city/economic driver) and an election/recession could be non-factor.

KC already has a modern, diverse economy with a growing population and jobs.

My dad is from NO east and I have friends uptown so I've seen how right you are in how the city is so uniquely diverse from block to block.