With another child coming, I think you will appreciate having the peace of mind that you are not leveraged to the hilt and still have a larger, more comfortable place to live.

But I still think it's a valuable metric to keep in mind because in the event your value-add business plan does not work for some reason you and your investors would be in pretty big trouble if your cost of capital is higher than the purchase cap rate.

Hoping to meet some like minded individuals that can help me understand what I am planning to get into, I want to start young and utilize my main benefit which is time. 

As far as some tips to keep in mind though, I would say to develop a great understanding of the area you are looking at investing in.

  So I have a few things in mind and not quite sure what would be the best investment.

How did you end up choosing STL, if you don’t mind me asking. 

Of course keep in mind that any amount would be minus $2K - $5K in closing costs. 

Texas or Florida come to mind because I could take advantage of the veteran property tax benefits and also the likelihood of obtaining a multi unit property would be much easier to get into.  

You may find that the base has enough room for the drain to flow the other way... there's also a trap under that drain that's not in the concrete mind you... it would only take an inch or two of extra space to be able to turn it to flow from the other side.

I am not looking for short term tenants with low salaries.Another thing to keep in mind is the tax implications of selling your rental property.