Managing a property yourself will be a great introduction to the fundamentals of owning property and will be a spring board for scaling in the future and tackling bigger deals.

I'd put 20% down on a more modestly priced home that still meets your needs (but maybe not all your wants) and invest the rest wherever you can find the best return (based on conservative estimates of the fundamentals, not speculation) ... this may or may not be rental properties in your backyard, or even RE at all.

Fundamentally, investors have to believe in interest rates coming down, or believe rents will rise rapidly in the commercial space to justify buying property at cap rates below interest rates.

Prices here are still relatively cheap but the economy is fundamentally strong (state capitol, two major universities, fast growing population, etc).

Learn the core fundamentals.

I very much agree with your fundamental selection criteria of school systems as a primary indicator.

Commercial has a whole different language, market fundamentals, metrics and financing.

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You could take some higher education courses at a college in real estate finance that are taught by fund managers who are not selling you on a dream but teaching you the fundamentals and understanding of the risks.

I would also recommend the Hometech book, but in order to have a fundamental understanding of what you're trying to do, you need to undestand exactly how much lumber, how many nails, how much drywall/tape/mud, how long it will take w/how many guys, etc etc etc.