My goal is to refocus, and reboot my investing career by eliminating my debt and having my money work overtime. 

We are busy professionals focusing on our careers so we really don't want to be involved in the day to day. 

Former Physical Therapist Assistant for 14 years and changed careers to driving a semi truck for the past 3 years in the Eastern region.   

Prices and the interest rates were part of the reason why we decided to wait. elementary school ratings and career changes were the other things.As you suggested, buying a fixer upper is also an option. concern with that will be the added delays in actually renting out the house after the fixes/updates.

You've got your whole investing career ahead of you.

Your investing career will be determined by your ability to accurately predict variable expenses, vacancy, maintenance, and CapEx. 

The concept seems better than new construction in terms of project time, but I'm wondering about the cons to this idea with exception of price being an obvious one.In theory it seems scalable and efficient, in my mind acquiring the land suitable would be the hardest task.

I am not an agent, but do offer advice and have a lot of resources that I have built over my career investing in my own backyard. 

What I learned over decades of time is everything comes full circle.You make your first 100k a year and feel you can breathe versus living paycheck to paycheck week to week with the bills and ask what do you want to do with life as a career or business.

I have been renting during my whole college career and made some income through internships that I would like to use towards putting a downpayment on my first property.