The best areas are larger cities that are diverse economy and have increasing population and increasing jobs available. 

Get them out, rehab, and increase the rents to the top end true market value.Good luck!

. 😎) however I also been looking into being an agent(less prefferred) or a sales associate for a Re company where I can learn while increasing income potential.Any thoughts??

If you desire my rationale for my belief on increased rents in the San Diego market you can PM me.  

I bring it up because you will absolutely see a spike in insurance cost after that regardless if the event is serious, That will increase the occupancy rate you need up much higher than the 50% you need now.

Expanding that likability by adding more bedrooms or baths could be a good investment but does it increase your travel expense?

This model is scaleable and can help increase net worth fairly quickly.

Yeah, the interest increases your debt but if you can buy a good asset now you'll be amortizing that debt much more easily with multiple income streams.

I'd see if the tenant is interested in staying in the place for another year, maybe with a small increase in the rent (let's say from $775.00 to $800.00). 

I copied this from a search on real estate ROE:Return on Equity (ROE) ratio calculates the amount of return generated in a particular year on the total amount of equity invested (or trapped) in a property.The amount invested (or denominator) is calculated as the initial investment (down payment) plus the entire increase in net property’s appreciation and the entire decrease in outstanding loan balance incurred prior to the year the ratio is being calculated.Cash-on-Cash Return is a similar calculation, but since the two draw backs of the traditional Cash-on-Cash Return are that property appreciation and principal debt payments are not factored into the formula, Return on Equity adds these two components to the traditional Cash-on-Cash Return calculation.A property’s net equity increase is calculated by determining what the “Net Sale Proceeds after Taxes” would be at the beginning of a year, and then again at the end of the year.