@Laura MacDonaldI feel like at your stage in life and the area in which you reside, your best bet at achieving this right now would be to trade in High Priced Denver area (cash out) and start a base in an emerging market. 

Of course the potential returns (IRR, COC, EM) will initially draw the attention of an investor, but what's more important is how they plan to balance the risks/returns such as assumptions in underwriting, how they plan to execute the business plan, and the track record of the management team.  

There are many benefits to using a broker vs going direct, but just from a rate and term perspective, still maintaining your banking relationship allows you to tangibly see whether the broker can save you money and get you better terms.For example, unless you’re talking about a complex ground-up construction deal, with many moving parts, that will take significant time and manpower to execute, a good broker, confident in their abilities, will usually work with their clients and allow them to work with their existing relationships while the broker pursues and reaches out to their own lenders.

I'm executing on a similar strategy here in Clarksville, TN - where cash flow meets appreciation!

Although total returns are higher in real estate, cash on cash returns are very similar to publicly traded REITs or dividend ETFs. 

Any advice/ thoughts is greatly appreciated.I have a degree in computer science and would love to trade real estate knowledge/advice for code+website help, if anyone is interested!

You're trading that for the freedom.

I have found I am way more productive when I wake up early, workout and follow a small morning routine and it really sets my day up nicely sounds like you are doing that but it is great. this also leads me to going to sleep earlier or working on less brain intensive tasks later in the day so there is a trade-off.I think having a job that takes that many hours can be taxing but see if you can flip it on its head.

Go for long term tenants and farm out the trades.

I'm a carpenter by trade, and did take the lumber costs into consideration.