You have ~$250k available at a valuation of 1.5M and 75% LTV (which should be achievable even if self employed).

You might be able to achieve that if you're buying used cabinets off Craig's list.

I think as we achieve some of those and gain more confidence then I’ll be able to grasp the extent of how far we want to go but it’s such a good reminder to keep asking the whys and keep those in our site !

Minus fees and closing costs you should be able to achieve zero of your own dollars left in the deal. 

However, I'm stuck on what I should do in the short term in order to achieve my goal.

If you'd like to own a single property to make some extra cash every month, then paying fully in cash is a straightforward way to achieve this.

There are certainly markets that get a lot of attention and ads and discussion here on BP, but there are many more markets out there where turnkey companies operate and passive investors can achieve their expectations.To assume that you can be ahead financially by doing things yourself rather than with a Turnkey company would also be an off assumption.  

Can you suggest the areas that could be potentially good areas to achieve the goal.

Are there any markets that achieve 1% price to rent ratio?  

Fast forward years later, I still want to do it and heard of bigger pockets, I feel from BP I can get the support/knowledge I need to succeed and achieve passive income.