Try and do both - package the student loans and put a healthy deposit down to bring the payment to a manageable level then find a real estate deal that works for you & in my opinion, not necessarily in that order.  

A correction is healthy, but we will probably only plateau for the winter, then the demand will be back in the spring and the market will continue to inflate in the midwest.I would recommend interviewing property management companies and see who is the best at communication.

i owned a station years ago, one of the biggest issues was if the soil is damaged from tank leakage.

They back dig it, put in gravel and drainage, pull it plumb and tie it into the back soil.

Before buying land, I would make sure to hire the right experts to assess the land topography, it’s soil quality to determine what size septic would be allowed.

.)#2 Rezoning to Approved Plot Plan where you hire engineers to get plan approved by the city/town to have structures built on the land#3 bring utilities to the lot line ready to go (water, sewer, gas, electricity) if out of city you may have to build your own waste water plant or septic system for sewer and drill well for water#4 clearing trees, grading land to have soil elevation to be relatively flat#5 bringing all utilities to each individual lot (residential subdivision, mobile home park) #6 build roads Hypothetically speaking your $100k raw land could be worth $250k after its been approved by the town to have 10-15 mobile homes built on it or worth $350k after you cleared all the trees and grading and have all utilities at the lot line.. 

We also have a healthy tech sector, with several broadcast technology companies located here.

A local agent can give you some statistics on how healthy a particular town or market is for flipping but even still you can flip in just about any neighborhood you just need to make sure to never overpay and buy at the right price for the area you're looking in.

Lastly, foreclosure activity remains low, ensuring most homeowners maintain a healthy equity cushion in their properties and preventing a flood of foreclosures that could depress prices, unlike the situation after the previous housing crash.I personally would overpay (if multiple offer scenario) for the right 4-unit where I would live in and be able to generate income as well as eliminate my housing expense (rent).

We do all sorts of "new" things like IOT devices, built in commercial grade networking/wifi, basic home automation, etcWe build a great home, air tight, comfortable, healthy, side bonus is the homes are energy efficient.