Not recommended as you cannot transfer the mortgage, so it will stay in your name as the original borrower.

Step1: get a pre-approval letter from a lender. this pre-approval will tell you how much of a monthly payment you can afford and will give you a purchase price to stay under (60-75 days out)Step2: find a realtor to begin working with. if you don’t know a realtor, ask around!

Unless rates have dropped or stayed close to the same than a cashout refinance might work and take some money out. 

Happy to connect and knowledge share if you are interested.

Also, checking out Airbnb/VRBO for 30+ day stays can be a good way to try and gauge demand/MTR pricing in your market.

Others may disagree, but in my opinion, you need to have some level of rehab knowledge and understanding of costs before having a contractor walk a property.

I would stay as far away from them as possible. 

Is there a specific strategy that you'd recommend for someone young like me to get my feet wet or should I just go with what I'm most interested in and have the most knowledge in, which is buy and hold rentals?

I'm looking forward to gaining the knowledge of so many investors in this community. 

The garage tenant stayed for 17 years, during which time I never saw them, talked to them a few times, and they paid the rent every month like clockwork.