It also includes managing your existing investment well to ensure you aren't bleeding money due to bad tenants, excess maintenance, etc. 

My goal is to achieve financial freedom by age 36 and to understand various aspects such as investing education, strategies, business planning, properties, marketing, and exit strategies.

As a parent, and landlord, and previous renter I will always choose to live or rent in the area with the higher rated schools - maybe they aren’t Blue Ribbon Schools, but a C+ rated Elementary School > F Elementary School.

Paul, the deportation efforts aren't overly concerning personally because the few assets I have left in my current portfolio don't have a high immigrant resident profile (nor do the submarkets).  

You need to know this and best way is to educate yourself.3.

This bodes well for long-term equity growth.Rising Rents: The uptick in rental prices shows a strong demand for rental properties and could lead to better cash flow for investors.Economic Strength: Reading has a diverse economy, with key sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, and education providing stability.Rental Demand: Low vacancy rates signal that people are actively renting in the area, which is essential for scalability.Future Development: Any upcoming infrastructure projects or new businesses could further boost the market.With these positive trends, it seems like Reading could be a scalable rental market.

The local govts aren't getting better they're getting worse.

I am looking to join a mentorship program to help lower my learning curve and until I find it, I am educating myself with books, as well as YouTube University and great advice from the BiggerPockets community.I do work full-time in a career that I love and is very rewarding, but I also know I won't attain my goals with my current job.

The local who lives there but commutes 30-60 min to another community because they can’t find a job to support their family in their town.That same local knows that a 4plex would be great on that lot that’s been vacant for 20 years and that there are at least 4 families who could benefit greatly from that development.That local knows that Ryan’s plumbing and Katie’s electrical companies that service 75% of the town really needs a new flex space to use as a shop, storage, and parking for their business so that they aren’t working out of their garage and can hire a couple of locals to work with them at the office and in the field.Development is different in our small towns but if locals aren’t the ones doing it, and developers aren’t coming, what happens to our kids futures?

My piece of advice would be to try to take advantage of as much free education as possible with podcasts, forums like these, YouTube, and other real estate investors.