I graduated from Texas Tech in 2011 with a Bachelors in Business Administration and went to work for a mid-major commercial contractor out of school.

If you went to school a little while back and your rates are really low, maybe there's a little less urgency there.More importantly, if you're in public service, I pretty sure there's something called the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

Some tested their concept with a booth at the farmer's market before venturing into opening a restaurant, some taught at culinary arts schools, some created a restaurant/entertainment venue, some moved their business from a high rent area such as Portland's "The Pearl" to a more affordable rent area such as Vancouver's "Downtown" or "Uptown", some simply offered the city a cuisine that was not offered before.

What school are you going through?

Right now, I'm taking time to educate myself about REI, and I'm planning on trying out wholesaling, and possibly even a property purchase, while I am in school. 

Work in real estate investing while going to school.

The other huge issue is you'll need a heck of a good LOE - letter of explanation to sell the UW (underwriter) on why this is ideal to be  your primary residence using factors the UW deems as variables that make sense for a primary occupant (larger family, location, schools, sob story, etc, etc).

Great school districts.

There is a piece of land near a high school in my county that I believe is a good buy.

Finally, we're about to go through tenant turnover for the first time, so I expect to learn a lot from that process.As far as exit strategy for this duplex, we're still evolving on whether we plan on keeping the property or selling it when I'm done with school.