@Christian WathneB Neighborhood maintenance is still done, assuming they have been solid tenants and no issues, your lease holds them liable, temps above freezing and furnace at 45, they pay all utilities.

If so having your dad go second to a bank with the 25k down payment loan above seems like a solid option.

anyone know a solid title company that covers contract assignments for wholesale deals and also does double closes in Rochester NY?

The hard part is just getting a good solid start! 

Anywhere convention where the focus is on quantity and not quality is a waste of time. 

Using the wholesaling strategy, we are getting solid leads on available houses consistently.

I live in Nashville, and I've made some solid connection with my association and I'm actually planning on checking out the ATL one to get my family bitten by RE bug that are in ATL. 

LOL. one owned Garbage company that waste management bought for 65 million..

Specific topics I need help with are: should I look into majoring in business as related to real estate (perhaps getting an MBA) or is this a waste of time, when should I try to buy my first property (as in how much money should I be looking to spend), what type of property would be best (apartment building for rent, SFH, wholesale, etc), what banks would be best to get a loan from should I need one, business and real estate books/ebooks I should read, and the pitfalls/rookie mistakes beginners make. 

My goal is to have a solid checklist complete and then close on my first property within the next 6-8 months (may seem long, but I am military and have a big move coming up plus some other financial objectives)...