Switching things up career wise and trying to find some good properties to start off my RE investing on the right foot. 

Several years ago, you could find a rough house in 35810, 35811, 35816, or 35805 for less than 100 a square foot, rehab it, and rent it for cash flow. 

After all that extra time with your parents coming back around the holidays and giving yourself strong footing to have a comfortable life is worth considering. 

Big enough to have a national foot print usually means some economy of scale price wise. 

Parents typically foot the bill, so students are not as price sensitive.

I'd look at doing development deals as well. you can do joint venture, non recourse debt above 5 million in construction. we do deals in Columbus Ohio and miami florida if it is of any interest. columbus cost per door is much lower than in miami and we focus on micro units under 600 sq ft mostly for development to get higher density, higher lease prices per square foot, etc. there is a "affordable" housing deal that has 336 sq ft studios in columbus that gets about $995 in rent which is above $3. the normal single family rental gets in the $1.6 or so range even new construction 

Here's our thinking: we can conservatively build multifamily for $200 a foot including land acquisition.

There are also companies that can jack hammer out a foot of floor around the inner perimeter of your basement and then install drain tile there.

Expect to pay $120-170 per square foot since it's an existing structure.

If price, then you are starting on the wrong foot.