It will also go towards your further required education as a licensee 

I visited Oregon's list of pre-license educators and there is a long list. https://www.oregon.gov/CCB/licensing/Pages/list-pr...  

If you have a solid job on the west side, it could be that your strongest strategy might be best served by starting your investing there, where the leveraging might be much more powerful for the moment than in MT, particularly because your leveraging power as owner occupant can be the best of all leverage.  

Take responsibility for your own education. 

The concepts remain the same, and you actually get better leverage from commercial loans than from residential loans. 

Since I am new I have been listening to the podcasts while I work to try and further my education.

I am trying to leverage each dollar as much as possible to get enough cash flow to "retire" and invest full-time. 

Those are the top two resources for Borrowers and Lendershttps://www.scotsmanguide.com/Residential/LenderSe...https://privatelenderlink.com/Scotsman Guide allows you to filter Lenders based on Loan Amount and Leverage. 

I agree with @Nathan DeJonge, use a HELOC if you can as long as you don't feel over leveraged.

Why don't you leverage your money?