Starting sooner rather than later allows you to benefit from long-term appreciation, build equity, and gain hands-on experience, even with a smaller property.

Quote from @Breland Clark: I would like to know more about developing land and subdivisions for new builds and apartment buildings. talk to the land development arms in your city or state.

But success depends on choosing the right cities and building an experienced and reliable local team.

Media just chose to cherry pick this one.During the GFC I knew 3 folks in my business which is Real Estate business and building that also took their own lives as they lost most if not all their property or business's it happened.And myself I lost 95% of my money and business between 08 and 2011 and had to start all over from the bottom so I know how it feels.

It gives you complete control over the property and helps you build the foundation for future growth.If you're planning to expand your portfolio, I strongly recommend partnering with a professional management company.

In our student houses we use a programmable thermostat, but our building monitoring system has its own sensors and can override the wall thermostat and will not allow the temperature to get below 10C (50F) ... we are presently testing a new software load that will also prevent them from cooling the house too far in the summer.

You're paying yourself back interest, the principal is out of the market and not going down, AND you're using the funds to build equity in real estate.

As a beginner investor based in the Seattle metro area, I'm eager to learn from your experiences and share my journey as I get started in this field.My current strategy is to focus on live-and-flip for the first three deals (looking for my second deal) to gain hands-on experience while building equity and learning the ins and outs of renovation and the local market. 

We're in the process of building a small cabin and Minoan has been landing in my email a lot lately. 

I would focus on being an agent and building that business.