Honestly with an interest rate like that you could even not pay off your primary and put any excess capital in a high yields savings account and be financially further in the long term.  

I'd focus on deciding what you want to do (flip-high risk, but potentially high return...or large loss; short term rental-more work, but higher return than long term rental; long term rental-less work than the other two, but lower return).Once you've decided which you want to do, then focus on getting the best house to meet your goal. 

Real estate is basically an income producing and or capital gain producing investment.  

There is simply no substitute for creating relational capital. 3. 

I’m hitting a bit of a roadblock when it comes to funding.I’m eager to start building a portfolio, but being young and not having substantial savings yet means I’m looking for advice on how to secure capital to get started.

Both these 2 are not easy to do, and typically take expertise, experience and or capital.  

Additionally, strong tax planning is essential, as your W2 income limits your ability to deduct passive losses.

Whether you are processing inferred signals such as pre-foreclosure and tax delinquencies or optimizing for explicit leads using SEO.There are definitely good deals to be found on MLS, but I am sure we all agree the bigger the information gap, the more opportunities there are for a lucrative deal.We have actually seen great success partnering with some of the most tech-forward wholesalers; They are fully capitalizing on the "first mover advantage" aspect of this information gap; streaming real-time leads directly into their CRMs to automatically start their sequences.

I can make the numbers on a good property turn bad for a year or more due to the loss of rents, if they can't be recovered. 

REPS does not relate to STR's.For short-term rentals (STRs) with an average rental period of seven days or less, you don’t need REP status to offset losses against other income.