Why not go get a college degree in construction management for that price….

Don't force it unless you're very experienced.These are interchangeable to some degree, but remember you must always have investors (end-buyers)

I think that depends on personal philosophy, risk tolerance, the local market, the global economy and which way the wind is blowing.

My goals are to close on two real estate deals, improve my physical fitness, finish my masters degree, and I am getting married in may so I want to start off my marriage well and enjoy life with my fiance!

But this isn't it just outright math, this is to a degree speculation risk tolerance, and behavior.

@Scott EwellLeveraged vs debt-free is a personal decision to some extent.Leverage will give you a higher ceiling on your investment, whereas debt free provides the lower floor.While I can't say which is best for you in particular; I can say that, in my experience, every majorly successful investor I've come across uses debt in their strategy to some degree.

You need to bring yourself up to speed to a degree before asking for help.  

For the vast majority of rental property investors who want a streamlined borrowing experience with a high degree of certainty that their loan will be funded on an accelerated timeline, DSCR loans are strongly preferred as long as property and borrower guidelines are met.

I work for Global Realty Group LLC in Cibolo, we require it for our landlords and also like to be added to the tenants coverage plans as well.

There's no randomness in investment, everything is almost predictable in high degree of accuracy.Since interest rate has been rising for 400bps, it's expected now that the general return for equity investment would reduce for 200bps and debt investment increases by 200-400 bps.This is why folks like Jay also mentioned to start investing at debt rather than equity, as most investment (either as debt or equity)in next 5 years or so would generate almost similar return which is 8-12% IRR.