I’ve been educating myself daily on the forums.

Then why aren’t you using a property manager?

I love real estate and the Richmond, VA area, which is why I wish to pursue a career that can educate me on how I can invest in real estate in the future in Richmond.

You can probably just Google how many pre-licensing hours and education you need for your state in Georgia but I bet its around 20-30!

Also, make sure there aren't additional restrictions on the property condition, compared to a conventional loan. 

@Derek Buehner Repairs made to your primary residence while living there generally aren’t tax-deductible.

You wouldn’t magically have access to hundreds of thousands of more dollars if your credit score was 20 points higher  TLDR: You aren’t being harmed at all by being 780 instead of 800+.

I advertise the houses that way, even if there's an appliance or two that the previous owner has left in them and I don't mention them so that the people coming aren't (or shouldn't be) expecting to find them. 

They aren't as likely to get pulled down accidentally.

Other asset classes aren't so the depreciation schedule may not be as quick/beneficial.2) And it is even possible to find deals that are what I call "super-shielders" and which not only shield all the distributions in the investment but have extra to use over on other real estate investments that are throwing off income. 3) Unless you're doing a 1031 exchange  at the end or similar tax structure to defer taxes, you will have to *pay back* all that depreciation benefit at the end (on sale...which for you is in 5 years)  via depreciation recapture.