I'm trying to identify a good area with reasonable multi-family inventory - are you finding a higher concentration of multifamily in a given area?  

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And after that I'm going to be concentrating on acquiring a larger multi family building (maybe 5 to 30 units).

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Just passive internet search stuff.

But the internet told me it had cheap houses, one of the highest global crime rates, and awesome rental returns, so I did what any wise investor would do and spent all my savings on a rundown out-of-state rental property.

I agree with the poster above ... business with a concentration in Finance would be my first pick ... it applies well to RE, and it also "travels well" if you decide to initially pursue a job outside of RE ...

And finally, there is diversification of the stock portfolio so that all the dividend income is not concentrated on one (or just a few) companies or industries. 

Instead of concentrating on purchasing a buy and hold property, maybe you should think about getting your license and generating extra income through being a realtor.