I continued to look for investors everywhere I went. at street fairs, through my small network of home owners and business people, hosted seminars on finding and doing fix and flips and built up a group of investors who encouraged me to find them development deals. 

Should I encourage people to have the owner of the property contact me or would it be better for me to cold call the property owner based solely on the information the lead gave me?

I just encourage you to look into it more!

I'd encourage you to do some analysis on your area don't just make the assumption the market is good because of the college although that is a good indicator.

I highly encourage you to contact a local Keller Williams Office for further advice if seriously interested!  

Thanks again and looking forward to making meaningful connections with awesome people!

@Alexander Felice Thank you for the encouragement and offering some perspective!

I currently have a part-time job which allows me to start saving up for it and I have been able to save up a meaningful amount since I started working a year ago which I put in the stock market for now. 

As a TK provider, I would encourage the same thing... 

I would encourage you to get with someone who has a lot of experience doing lease options that will help you with your contracts so that you don't violate any laws (this is not a solicitation, just a suggestion).Good luck to you.