BTW, I did eventually see the light with leverage but not as fast as I should have. 

I purchased a piece of residential land on 2021-01-27 to build on and eventually be a rental property.

Eventually you will find a property you are ready to buy and then you start the land lording process which is your next adventure.  

In your situation, that could mean significant differences for eventual income taxes.

Something that has to be sold to provide cash flow until it eventually runs out. 

There are other concerns of course with a fund whereas you are not in control, but in most instances you will get about the same.If you eventually wanted to make a business out of this and do it full time, then of course there are a lot more advantages to start doing it yourself.

I am currently planning on staying in the NYC area while I start my career, save up capital and continue to educate myself on real estate, but eventually I would like to move out of New York to start investing somewhere more affordable.

It looks to be a true 50/50 split based on square footage, so eventually when you go to sell you will be taking 1/2 of the property and applying the federal tax exclusion under Section 121 and the other half will be treated as a capital asset subject to capital gains.

This is what all growing businesses eventually do.For instance, why are you still doing marketing, showings and leasing?

I think that is an economic principle in a free market, once regulations go into place the numbers normalize.I agree...except that I believe the free market would eventually 'normalize' it even without the Govt stepping in, that just accelerates things.....Supply and Demand is the ultimate regulation...... :-)