The land is zoned rural for 2 acre lots,  but the dev is trying to have it up-zoned for gated mcmansions.

However, for extra precaution I do have exterior security cameras on the property including by the gated parking spots provided.

The problem is that in the US job market, many (possibly most) employers use the college degree as the initial gate when you are applying for a job - unless you have a significant amount of relevant work experience, if you don't have a degree you may not even be considered for the position.Because of this, I agree with the many others who have posted that completing the degree is a solid back up plan that you should strongly consider.

People love to use examples of successful college dropouts like Bill Gates without considering some of the advantages they had.

Or are their buildings being unused, re-purposed for storage, do they have padlocked gates or otherwise not being used efficiently.  

In my world my investors prefer to ONLY do performing notes.. return is consistent and more conservative and only in a really bad situation will you have a default.. in NPN your already buying something in default and the job is to get it to perform and end up owning the asset.. for bigger funds or bigger investors this is fine because you will no doubt have a bummer somewhere along the line and you can income average so to speak.. but if by chance your first NPN ends up a bummer then you have a bad taste right out of the gate and this does happen to one off investors.  

The other benefit of buying a package like this is that we can use a lender to purchase these homes right out of the gate.

@Michael Zuber I am 27 with my goal set on my first million by 32 after that the flood gates are open and the race has begun!

However, going big right out of the gate is very tough.

If this creeper goes inside the gate, then he's REALLY trespassing.