She said this would give me time to go to the county and do my homework, and if things didn't work out with the county I could bail on the offer.Wanted to get thoughts from anyone who's used "study period" in their offers before. 

Do your homework, know what you're going to say before you say it, rehearse if necessary, and know what the property is worth and what you're willing to offer, have a bottom line number that you won't go beneath. 

Schools don't matter to the young professionals that have at least 10 years ahead of them before their yet to be born kids will hit the school, but the proximity to "social happenings" is key.If you are looking at families (with kids) then definitely:- schools, crime.

I thought about rent and did my homework on that, it will cover my expenses when I decide to do that.  

Don't give in when your friends may be getting nice houses, large mortgages, several kids.

My goal is to pay for my kids to go through college and then be able to fund my own fun!

The other group are professionals with kids who want a big 2500-3500 sq ft house on a cul de sac for under $1MM, where they can still commute to work.

At the same time, do your homework and you can leverage that into substantial RE holdings and serious long term wealth. 

I am somewhat computer savvy, BUT my time is spread so thin already (full-time job and 3 kids which is a second full-time job LOL) so I think I need to go with the option that uses less of my time over the life of this business and focus that time on finding deals, even if it costs a little less.  

Hello Everyone,I'm full time engineer with two young kids looking to invest in real estate.