From your post I assume you are self employed, since you’ve been SE for over 5 years, you can get a loan using only 1 year taxes, in case your net income for 2017 is not enough, you should show your 2018 drafts to your banker Before you file to make sure you show enough.

The other tenant I moved in; fully vetted, including employer reference and last 2 landlord references, all of which were positive.

This setup works for other businesses, but not for self-employed professionals.

The only time i'd pay attention to the future increases is if something is changing around that property such as gentrification, new fortune 500 employers coming into town or an area with huge historical growth.

But i have been self employed for less then a year .

Navigating banking and credit card systems and knowing when to apply and the things to say to maximize credit lines is often not common knowledge for new investors.

That is something much more common in illiquid markets.Median home price in Anne Arundel County, where Annapolis is located is $345k.

I also have a Roth SDIRA which has $50,000 invested in a syndication effort.Emergency fund: $20,000Investment Cash: $75,000I put $500 every 2 weeks into Investment cash and also have my cash flow from the rentals of $2,008 auto transferred to Investment Cash account.I have 5% of pay going to TSP (retirement) account as my employer matches up to this amount.

If you do not have one, I recommend finding one that has experience in real estate as employment and real estate investing. 

Recently I had questions about moving or withdraw funds from former employer 401K account to invest in RE.