@Cameron Riley  I guess if all you want out of college is a career, maybe dropping out is a wise choice.

It wasn't long before I had to make a hard choice: pay back my final 25k worth of debt, or continue to make minimum payments and start investing in real estate.

I'm not sure that the little added value that I can get on a rent is worth it.If I had the choice between a property without a pool and one with, I would choose the one without.

With that kind of starting cash, you have some choices. 

I might paint the trim around the door to match the siding on the 2nd story portion of the home.My 2nd choice would be a tan to match the siding in the 2nd story portion of the home. 

And then select a niche within the area of choice to educate yourself and start investing.

@Cade Jones-PearsonAs a real estate investor, your main choices in avenues to take is either, flip, rent or BRRR.

What it really means is you choose investments rather than having the account managed by an advisor or limited to a choice of 4-10 funds.What you are likely seeing is "you choose which stocks".A truly self-directed plan as often discussed here on BiggerPockets means not only that you choose, but also that the plan is configured for investing in anything the IRS rules allow. 

If I had a choice of being on Municipal or well and septic, I will take well and septic any day, the Well is little maintenance and no bill and with exceptions, generally you may replace a pump and piping every 50 years or so unless lightning whacks the pump, still a pretty cheap fix,  septics, in WI require pumping and inspection every 3 years ($150-$300) and if maintained will last 20-50+ years and depending where you are and soil type replacement would be $2,500 to $20,000 I can get a 1000 gal (3 bedroom) system replaced up north in sand country for $2500, in clay its more as often you need a mound.

Hi BP,So I'm trying to narrow down my top 5 market choices for buy and hold rentals and am having a tough time walking the line between scalability and stability.