I'm interested in the idea of working in a real-estate related job while saving toward buying more investment properties.

Appreciation will not save you over the long haul, look at the situation in the present.

@Jose Jose, glad to hear you're thinking about this- water savings are an amazing way to increase your return.

The Ultimate Beginner's Guide outlines the most popular ones.

I do have some large projects in the pipeline which could increase that number by another 100K or so but its safe to say low 300's and I will have a tax bill of about 50K this year so ultimately it is very safe to say I am liquid for 250K right now that I'm ready to invest.Due to my job I have access to subcontractors of all trades... roofing, tile, granite, flooring, paint etc at pretty much cost (day rates of the actual laborers).  

The single loan aspect saves a lot of money due to the fact that you only close on one loan.  

if he takes care of all that it may be worth it, figure out what your costs would be to hire outside services and see if it saves you money, is the place that big that you need an onsite manager or will it cost you less to hire a PM company ?

I get nothing for referring you other than the satisfaction that you are going to save a ton of time over using QB!  

I am a college student trying to put some cash I have saved up into a rental property.  

I have 2 full time guys who save me 1000s a week, a few part timers and dozens of contractors.