Hey Meghan, Someone like you in your position might find success in buying an existing property management company rather then starting one fresh.

My family and I just recently took a short vacation to Wilmington and the house we stayed in really lit a fire in me about getting started because it was so ideally situated. 

This probably seems attractive but at the same time if it stays unpermitted it can be head aches along the way and if i were to ever sell in future run into the same sort of problems. 

Just be careful as you do not want to do anything that could look like mortgage fraud (fake master lease that just transitions over to you directly would be mortgage fraud and best to stay away from). 

I'm sure he did really well with the property - enough so that he could complain about the cost, yet pay it and stay in business- but, I wouldn't buy one unless you had serious reserves, just in case. 

There is no guarantee rates will go down and stay down and with a HELOC your rate is variable.

But it’s also a heads-up to stay sharp, keep an eye on those mortgage rates, and be ready to jump when the time feels right.

And, is it ok to stay over my parents home during the weekday because of my job that's 3 miles away instead of being 40+miles away

Happy to send those resources your way and/or chat about pros and cons of going out of state vs staying in your back yard.

You need to constantly analyze whether a deal is good to flip, or wholesale, or buy and hold, or stay away from from.