I use 30 year loans to minimize my payments as much as possible and maximize my cash flow.

After speaking to CPAs who are very knowledgeable in real estate investment, only answer I now have is to maximize my 401K.

For example, if your focus is to maximize cash-flow then a market like Indianapolis would be on your list.

This is not just about maximizing ROI but also peace of mind.

As a buy and hold investor, if I can get more than this return, where should I invest/what is the best strategy in order to maximize cash flow? 

But, for an investor who doesn't need the cash flow, has plenty of reserves, isn't risk averse and believes he can maximize IRR by using large amounts of leverage, cash flow may be meaningless and that formula may not allow him to reach his goals.Some people will tell you, "Never invest for cash flow."  

For investment instruments, the goal is not to maximize return, but to maximize your risk / return ratio.  

This is kind of a proxy to show that in order to maximize your returns, you should be doing something with that growing equity.

Still, others invest for a return on each dollar invested and they will seek to maximize that in number of houses they buy and by attempting to leverage every dollar.

I always separate geographically in my mind by 'location'Since I myself am just starting out as well, I'm taking the approach to maximize ROI.