My next goal was to make 50k with stocks crushed that one.My final goal is to flip a house to secure a second property but I'm actually lost on how a flip actually works mainly the lending and financing part , I don't want to jump into something I'm not fully confident about if. 

But I want to control where the money goes, not just into stocks and bonds.

My other interests include stock market investing, technology, and history.I hope to meet other like-minded investors, entrepreneurs and professionals on here!

That's a stock market day trader mentality.  

Let’s pretend neither of those things happen and you nail it dead nuts on.

A lot of the housing stock in that area is quite old, and you already reviewed the data about the sub-market's issues.

Financial Planners all seem to recommend having a balance stock portfolio, so why wouldn't investors similarly have a balance real estate portfolio and do some of each?

Dead Wrong.

It doesnt end until a few people end up dead from these situations.

I've been putting money into stocks and index funds, and looking into other public markets, would consider real estate debt funds or syndications (would need to vet those first)  in the future.