Looks to be pretty solid according to AirDNA.

At best it sounds like you broke even and made the money strictly through principal paydown with no appreciation above your costs unless you had some pretty good cash flow. 

What that means is that even if you "overpay" for a property today, there's a pretty good chance that the normal rate of inflation and general appreciation is going to make you look like a genius 30 years from now. 

Craigslist wasn't pretty, but it was easy to use, and it worked (I found lots of great tenants via Craigslist) ...unfortunately, over the years, Craigslist produced fewer and fewer tenants, and more and more spam.  :( These days, nearly all my new tenants come from Facebook Marketplace.  

Not to mention the inital product costs to begin with.....and even though I had no labor install costs since I did it myself....it was still pretty costly.

The problem with this option is that the equity payout would be pretty close to the same as the HELOC payments.

If your student loans are only 3-5% interest, that's pretty good so I think it's okay to pay those off over time.It sounds like you're making good income with your current employer and there is room to grow, so I'd plan to stay with that job until you can pay your high interest loans off and save enough for a down payment for your first property.

That is pretty pricey for me.

I have been pretty happy with Traveling Mailbox.

Makes an amazing shot of espresso, and pretty much idiot proof so long as you have your cleaner stay on top of the cleaning and maintenance.