Quote from @Mathius Gazi: I picked up a two family last summer in New Haven and it is doing absolutely fantastic.

Not sure where you picked that up from, but it's not correct.  

I am currently 21 years old and was recently hired with my dream job in Sarasota County (I saw that Sarasota wasn’t an option so I picked the closest.)

Never fully trust anyone that isn't willing to share the negative aspects of all this.As I'm sure you've experienced, this can be a very rewarding path to take and depending on your grit and determination, overcoming all the pitfalls are well worth the effort.Cheers and drive safe!

Before making any decision, I would get a customized property evaluation by a local Realtor to determine the value of the property on both sides of the spectrum; sale OR rental. 

Hi Dave, welcome to the real estate worldCollin, Denton, and Grayson counties are great picks with growing demand and strong rental potential.

We realized the screws we were using were too small for the door hinge and we just had to finish that small bottom corner.1/26/25 - We went to Lowes and picked up some 1 1/2 inch door hinge screws (sound in the screw/nail section) and went back to the rental.

One thing to be aware of is the FHA multifamily self-sufficiency calculation which determines if a property can generate enough rental income to cover its mortgage payments.

I picked a mentor and a team to follow and the rest worked out

It is how they determine your interest-rate.