also, my properties perform pretty well (both in terms of cashflow and appreciation), which makes managing them much more enjoyable (the job would be pretty miserable if you're not making much money, or losing money).I would assume you're correct -- that people who have C and lower properties (or properties that don't make much money) often drop out pretty quickly...managing a D property would be extremely stressful and difficult--not a job I'd want (not for any amount of cashflow)!

So, as an extreme example, if the property needed to be built (so we say the current home value is $0) but it's ARV is $200K, our CapEx could accommodate the full $200K being replaced in a single year rather than 50 or 100 years (depending on the CapEx % we like to use: 1%-2%).

I am entering a new stage in my life, but as a young graduate, am extremely determined to save money for myself in this extremely costly environment that has developed over the past several years.

San Antonio’s soil gets extremely dry and can crack in the summer.

I am extremely new to the world of RE investing.

Your advice is extremely helpful.

Know your area extremely well from a rental law/registration situation, know the players (PMs, contractors, inspectors, suppliers, etc), attend meetups or start one if there is not one in your area. 

While I absolutely agree with the two Gentlemen who said buy a fourplex and put 5% down as your primary, it's going to be extremely difficult to find anything on market that's affordable and even harder to find anything off market.

Property Management of long term rentals takes very little time and someone with an extremely demanding w2 can still easily handle managing several units.If you are in tune with your market, you can likely get better/higher rents on your units than property managers would.

We have a great rental market, the state is extremely landlord friendly, and the price points make much more sense than some of the other markets you're looking into.