However, the units I see myself living in all barely break even on cashflow.

It all evens out.

This tax change could trigger even with offering contacts for those services as it could be construed as contractors.

Dennis' dad and I actually tripped over something similar back in Chandler.. we learned to tap into city planning websites and even call the permit offices directly to get a real sense of their backlogs.

A good, experienced borrower can turn around even an unexpectedly bad deal.

Even if you only averaged 2.8% appreciation annually, which if you've had it 20 years I have no clue how that's true given prices have well more than doubled in that time, youre skipping over the fact that you have been benefiting from that appreciation on the ENTIRE house, not just the % you paid for.  

I have been reading the online resources about getting started, searching the market, and even doing tours, but I am hesitant to jump in and buy a house as I have quite a large amount of student debt.

For $150k out of pocket this seemed like a home run yet sometimes we barely break even.  

You can attend all the REIAs and read all the books and sign up for all the conferences, and spend all the money, and you are will never really know you can do it until you do.Over 20 years in real estate in various forms and roles, action will beat out intelligence or education or even network 100% of the time.  

@John Lasher If you are still looking to spend $20k-$30K for a coach, I would be happy to take you up on that offer :) For full disclosure,  I will share with you precisely what you can learn online/ perhaps even entirely through these BiggerPockets Forums but that doesn't address the reason why most are still unable to purchase larger assets: creditworthiness and capital relationships.