Most people get stuck right here - caught between learning everything and actually doing something.I started out in college, and felt the same way.

And be an asset to hopefully pass down our son or help him when he’s college age or after he’s done  I would start by calculating the expected return on the old property using the known variables and estimates for the unknown variables, such as expected appreciation, capex/operating costs on the property, tax advantages, etc. 

Kids, deduct their college costs by paying them to advertise.  

There are tons of manufacturing, insurance, healthcare and support workers for colleges and government jobs.Crime score - check out crime mapper and other sources to look at the specific neighborhood you've targeting. 

With that I plopped a couple of "disposable" tiny houses for STR.On one I've bought for income - inside the city of Knoxville (a fantastic college town) - I am precluded from doing STR - so it's ideal for me to do LTR.

The basis of my original post is limited due to the fact my houses are college rentals, a micro-niche of the buffalo real estate market.

I played baseball throughout college and built so many amazing connections.

You are in your twenties, in college, and serving in the military and looking to become financial free and see real estate investing as a part of your path.Thank you for your service and congratulations, I wish I had the same wisdom about real estate investing at your age.Happy to be a resource for you.To Your Success!

I played baseball throughout college and built so many amazing connections.

So our $150K is now worth $600K, plus all the income that helped pay for college for my kids, etc.If investors have the right expectations, now is a really good time to be getting in.I think what you're describing here is the concept of 'get rich slowly' with real estate.