In your shoes, coming right out of school I suspect you dont have a down payment, so consider an FHA loan (3.5% down) on a multi family (up to 4 units).

The older units are bigger and most are not what I call shoe box shaped.

If you can buy right, and keep your rehab costs low, this is an area where the house will sell right away, and someone in your shoes could make a profit.  

Here in Ohio, a "cheap house" is about 5-10k (that needs a bit of work), but I'm similarly in your shoes.

I was in your shoes years ago leaving the Army from S.

I may soon be in your shoes as my wife and I are considering a move to Melbourne, Australia.  

I am unfamiliar with the Oregon market; thus, if I was in your shoes, I would call around to property management companies and ask about pricing as well as call local brokers and ask about current CAP rates (apply cap rate to NI to come up with current value - NI/CAP rate).  

If I was in your shoes this is what I would do.

.**2010 to now (worked myself to death)-basically i have been paying off between 2 to 3 rentals each year-because all of the profits go to lender i have pretty much been working nonstop -but on the flipside now i own 11 houses outright.i owe the lender on 2 more rentals (about 70 k) and clear about 10 thousand a month** now my question-if you were in my shoes -taking into account my credit situation -what would be your strategy to leverage your assets to pull yourself up from doing 6 to 10 deals a year to 12 to 20. i realize i will only get so far spending 80 percent of my time doing most of the work like i have been

Or he can spend the same time frame receiving certified mail and having public notices taped to his door only to destroy his credit for 3-7 years.If I were in his shoes, this wouldn't be a difficult choice.Good luck!