I feel like I’m in a good place, but I have over $900k locked up in equity.

Or that I have to continue working with the contractor that the seller had hired to fix the roof?

I lived in Saint Louis for most of my 20s (and grew up in the general area), but even after being gone for over 10 years, I wouldn't trust my ability to pick locations outside of the no brainer A-B areas.I hit my FI number and have left my "golden cuffs"; I don't know your situation, but I what I can probably promise you is that it is going to take longer and be more difficult than you expect. 

They are capable of breaking out on their own but have decided to continue working under someone else.

And then a week later, find out the applicant you picked isn't going to rent from you after all.Then you have to start all over and probably could have had someone else in the previous group locked in by now.

Wealth is built slowly, over the long-term.

People call me from all over the world to invest in real estate.

In NC property managers have 24 hrs to get emergencies responded too .I didn't have a response until over 96 hrs after the initial call. 

They’ll show you what they earned last year so you can get a sense of what to expect, but be sure to look at revenue/ occupancy trends over time to see if the market is trending down post-2021 (and give their totals a haircut for your own forward looking projections if so).

Just keep in mind if you have a current VA loan it does take away from your Max loan amount based on the entitlement you have left over from the first.