Having an "emergency fund", is a great way to go.

You must be highly self motivated for positions like these, not just in training but on the job, fatigue is not an option and your attention detailed to 110% as you perform.They also require a great deal of focus, you can't be distracted and you are disciplined to remain calm under extraordinary circumstances or in an emergency. 

Planning Ahead.The majority of Americans do not have “rainy day” funds set aside for unanticipated financial emergencies and similarly do not plan for predictable life events, such as their children’s college education or their own retirement.3.

Pay off student loans; split your cash flow between emergency funds/real estate and extra debt payments to (smallest balance or the highest interest rate.

-Have about $30k in savings and usually able to put $2k in savings every month unless I'm paying for some other expense like a vacation or Christmas presents or an emergency-I have no other means of retirement accounts (no 401ks or anything like that)Where we live now, we know it wasn't going to be our "forever" home.  

I'm trying to pinpoint emerging markets in the US that have good potential for real estate investing and I'm looking for a good demographer to help.  

Also if your looking to invest in emerging markets that you see opportunity for growth you can buy shares here in the US through a brokerage.

Architecture has been my passion ever since I was a destructive young boy, and like most enthusiastic and idealistic emerging architects, there is a moment of reckoning when you discover the disconnect between how imagine architecture and the realities of the profession/industry.

Have you considered Santa Fe or Albuquerque as emerging markets?

Essentially you are saying that you want to put all your eggs into one basket, no room for error, no emergency fund for yourself or your properties, only to have cashflow of $22.6K that is likely barely enough to live on let alone reinvest, and just hope you always have renters, nothing breaks, or the economy doesn't experience a downturn.