But I've chosen not to do a VA loan with them or anyone because they are more expensive than conventional with their 'funding fee'. 

Thanks (and kindly no solicitations of money; I’ve chosen a few people I’ve I would JV with).

With the degree I have chosen, I should come out of college making 55-65K a year.

Assess properties in your chosen market to see if either has potential.

Your principal is still at risk when it is invested, even if you have chosen an allocation with historically low volatility.

@Barbra Thebenyane, I have found biggerpockets to be a great community of like minded investors, where I can discuss and learn more about the intricacies of my chosen field of REI - Mobile home parks. 

If you know exactly what you want & why you want it, then I would recommend to start looking at your chosen markets to start analyzing properties until you're comfortable with the amount of capital you have to start.Good Luck!!

That's just what he has chosen to do with his life. 

Panels on the front of a house can be ugly, but it all depends on the style of the house and the layout that's chosen.

Landscape stones would work, if you were in my neck of the woods I might suggest a nice decorative barrel cactus, but I don't think that would work in WV, even a small tree may be a significant enough deterrent.