From my experience, many investors prefer to stay hands-off and avoid the day-to-day operations—managing contractors, solving unexpected issues, or finding a replacement electrician.

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.

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Not the ones that stay in business. 

I stayed at Eagle rock recently and loved it. 

I might stay away from self managing in my first deal and rather focus on raising funds and managing the investment. 

There were some years ago when buyers would just take over the lease and that is it, the value stayed the same and it was transferred in escrow to the new buyer if they qualified. 

You will end up getting a list of GC's to stay away from too. 

This sort of deal could go south very easily and for that reason I stayed away.What would you do? 

Build yourself a Google business page, make yourself easily bookable on Airbnb (did you know that 25% of nights booked on Airbnb are for 30 day stays and more?