Or minimize your mortgage risk by buying one property for cash or little debt. 

The sellers will take a mortgage on the property.

I've been wondering if the college rentals have taken a hit since COVID as more universities have shifted to more online classes than ever before.

Agreeing with all above that the HOA (the size of a mortgage payment) will probably ruin it.  

The most obvious is that you will be able to offset your mortgage with renting out a few rooms.

Also, all the online tools I've seen so far charge money for me to learn who owns a property after I enter the address. 

And if we leave it up to them, they won’t…as long as we pay that mortgage.

Run payments via an online platform (We use Rent Manager)3.

and with record new class A multi-family coming online now and 2025 in Austin/Dallas/Houston, perhaps focusing on multi-family would be most lucrative for you, which you already have personal experience in, over next few years then you can acquire really good value deals as prices will likely come down quite a bit, ie more supply/higher 10 yr etc.     

For example, the costs to obtain the mortgage are typically amortized over the life of the loan.Real estate also offers expenses that do not involve cash coming out of your pocket.