Most of my tenants never expect or ask for it in the BANK. 

If you or someone else is handy with repairs this might work but if you have to call a service company expect at least $100 to show up plus parts and additional time. 

Here is some more clarity on my plans:I expect to be in between jobs for 4 to 9 months including both retraining and securing a new job (W-2). 

You didn't mention what rent rates you would expect.

I do not expect to pay myself for quite a long time and am good with that.  

I will add that there is an expectation that you can analyze your deals, within a reasonable amount of time, but you should never fill like you have to sign a contract tomorrow. 

It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be.

Aside from understanding how to build the buildings and how much they cost, you'll need to know how to understand how to analyze deals at a higher level to see if they make sense - what are the rents/sales you expect to achieve, what are your financing costs, what's the timeline....I would strongly suggest taking real estate and/or corporate finance classes as well - preferably as a minor if you're able to.  

And yes, those rates are critical when I analyze a property because they tell me whether I'm going to expect cash flow or not. 

My question is should I use all the money that I can get pre-approved for or use a formula using expected cashflow along with my income to determine what my buying limit should be?