Remote work, travel nursing, school.

This is a personal preference thing, based on an extensive amount of people I've encountered in my life, to 99% of the people out there, pay off the mortgage is the way to go if they can. 99% of the people in the world would be beyond content with financial freedom: meaning, in general purchase whatever you want (minus mega mansion and private jets), go wherever you want to go, send your kids to whatever school they want to go, and last a life time.

I went to school in Santa Barbara and moved out to Reno, NV to live and invest. 

Towns/cities hate them because there are no proprety taxes yet they chew up services for things like more school kids, etc.I'm sure there are deals to be had out there in parks for people that are looking. 

My wife and I are both currently public school educators and I also happen to be a coach.

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I personally am in a college town and my target audience tends to be single travelers, and or couple(s) traveling to visit campus or visit their student at school.. so for me in my market the 1 bedroom / studio units are the best ROI in terms of occupancy and revenue per sqft, I believe. 3) I’d open up a convo with a few local hosts and see what their experiences have been and chat with them about their journey.

Althouhg some engineering roles might not need a degree.Consider going into trade school.

I am also not commuting to a job so while my son is in school during the day I would be cleaning and turning over the apartment for STR.At any rate, it will partly depend on whether the STR regulations in that area would even allow for this arrangement in an apartment or condo, but I just cannot quite see, at least for this potential property, adding a flip or rehab project to the mix.  

And then hold.To me, I'd suggest you look at smaller towns that have good schools and are close to cities so that you can get houses closer to that 200k or less mark yet still have a shot at decent appreciation and decent rental increases over time.