Pick deals based on how much money they'll bring in, where they are, and how many people want to rent there.

This is exactly why people do not trust property managers.

Attend meetups and meet as many people in RE as you can.

Totally agree with @Paul Moore and I think Self Storage and Mobile Homes don't get the same attention as Apartments because people, in general, don't really understand the asset classes, unlike apartments everyone gets the concept rather quickly. 

Being an agent will help me expand my connections with people and at the same time will be saving capital.

May meet some likeminded people, next weeks topic is flipping.

That's good enough for monst people.

They’re great people to have on your team.

However that is a long time to just wait, maybe get your RE license and help people buy and sell homes and mabye you'll realize its more fun than being a property manager. 

Although my wife and I are excited, I know that we could be doing more to grow our money (I also know that many people don't tie in equity to NW, and these numbers are skewed if we keep our home forever).