As someone mentioned, the only thing passive about real estate investing is the tax treatment. 

I am curious if you had to invest any of your own money in the form of equity or to pay for some of the remodeling.

Going direct instead of having a GC do the work will save you money too since that GC will put a percentage on top of work. 

Are you sure there is no one within 10-20 miles who would like to make money cleaning it and checking on it? 

Repairs made while the property is your primary residence are not deductible, but improvements can increase your cost basis, reducing future capital gains tax when you sell.

If I can park the 388k ($415-27k) for one year at CD rate of 4.5% and then est 300k (after paying cap gain/depr recap) at 3.0% (assume CD rates lower) that interest income of about 24 months net of ordinary income tax is about the same as my current mortgage.Trying to play devil's advocate and think why selling this year does not make sense. 

We were wondering if it would be best for him to get the degree or to drop out and focus on making money and getting experience in real estate instead (or try and do both)? 

@Stephen Fleming your cashflow probably won't be what you think it will be:(Have you factored in the new property taxes at homestead millage rates?

Hopefully the deposit covers Jan rent, make sure you give them an itemized list of the money owed to you for any damages or unpaid rent. 

What you have is money.