If I'm in your shoes, I would keep tabs on comparable sales in my areas (I believe Zillow lets you setup alerts for sales in your target areas) and use those as your best measuring stick for figuring out your own value. 

So, for example, a release of an “all items index” rise of 3.4% for April 2024 means that prices rose by 3.4% when compared to prices in April 2023.Remember that while the overall number is important and comparisons to the prior year and prior month are key, the main factor that affects interest rates (and thus, mortgage rates) is the number (percent change year over year) versus expectations.

As rates rose and financing slowed down I thought back to wholesale land flipping.

But each year the IRS has continued to shoe their dislike and distrust of the arrangement. 

What would you do if you were in my shoes?

In your shoes, it might be simpler to stay focused on grad school and use your cash to lend to other investors or take an LP role. 

Be careful to not spend a lot of money for nothing.Because I hate to be a party pooper and I understand you want to invest where you live (and you can't do anything about what the country is or does), this is what I'd do if I was in your shoes and wanted to use OPM to invest there:1.

Put yourself in the renters/guests shoes - where would they be looking?

My father is a real estate broker out east and is eager to partner with me on this journey as well.I guess my question to you would be, what is the logical way to continue or what would you do if you were in these shoes?

It’s all about having a clear, focused strategy and sticking to it. agree paying down principal day one really saves you interest and the amount you would pay it down say a few hundred a month .. that money does nothing for increasing your holdings one just spends that on dining and a new pair of shoes etc.. then if you need to cut back on payment you can however you would be shocked to how much faster you create real equtiy.