The wife and I have been looking to get into rentals for some time now, section 8, to be specific.

I strongly suggest you have an attorney draw up the contracts (and one has who has already done this many times, as they will already have templates they use).At the minimum, a lender need a Mortgage but I would also recommend for more protection, a lender will want a JV agreement, promissory, personal guarantee and if possible, to have the deal cross-collateralized with another property. 

.- We could furnish it and go for STR/MTR simultaneously, but we get occupancy near end of October, which isn't the best time for STR.

@Amby BhagtaniBesides looking at market stats look at the time and energy that you can put into a market.

My first time posting as I am brand new to the game.

Jerome Powell announced a few weeks ago that the time has come for the Fed to cut rates, and we are expecting to hear that announcement in the next Fed meeting on September 17-18.

Capital raising can be extremely time consuming and can become a job in itself.

Are you competing with large scale property management firms or small scale investors 1 to 3 properties?

For the record, we are very comfortable with our local market in Pittsburgh PA so for the time being we will be sticking to loans in the region.Thoughts? 

Others work with rehabbers across the country so you have some selection on location.Turnkey rentals are an easy way to get going, but the returns are typically not as good as if you found and managed the rehab on your own.