I had a mentor who stressed "you make your money when you buy"; the next place you get, be sure to haggle big time - and walk away if the price is not low enough.

It hurts the tenants ability to find another rental, nobody wins, and it takes forever costing you money. 

I financed the acquisition of the land with personal and private money.

We were wondering if it would be best for him to get the degree or to drop out and focus on making money and getting experience in real estate instead (or try and do both)? 

Every day I mark how many calls to leads I made, how many people I contacted (and was it email, call, text) from my database/past clients....how many social media posts I answered or made, etc.I don't know if that's automating, but every week I can quickly see how much of each money generating thing I did.Do you use Google Calendar? 

Personal money How did you add value to the deal?

I would rather do this and retain my money then give it to the bank as interest. 

Obviously it will cost money, get some quotes.

I know it is expected that you will need to spend some money after someone moves out but I just didn't expect I was going to need to spend appx. $10k to get it rental-ready. 

For me I think it depends on how much money you have invested into the home and for how long?