My mom rented in a community for 7 years before a very modest inheritance enabled her to buy a new car and most of her home (small seller carry on the rest) in the same community in which she rented.

It took a couple of days of back and forth to enable. 

The latter would enable you to then upgrade those units.

Would have been enabling them. 

Right after I told my family about the deal, my dad reached out to me by surprise and told me he'd be willing to lend me the money to enable me to use a conventional loan.

Or is it the flexibility to change the time horizon based on market conditions that enables you to handle market risk?

enabled trail cams that probably alert you in real time (which would act just like the other traditional security systems).

Both the cities have great tax rates (around 1% of purchase price, with owner occupied exemptions to add) and also enables you to Airbnb your unit should you choose. 

However, very, very few put you in practical, "think apprenticeship type" opportunities to learn alongside experts doing large, syndication deals enabling you to rapidly grow your experiences , knowledge and credibility in a safer environment (less bruises and broken bones) without damaging your pocket book and reputation doing bad deals in less than stellar markets. 

Identify a property that needs work on the MLS and purchase as a primary residence (which enables the best possible financing terms) - move in & make repairs (that can be financed into the loan).