Life will be a lot easier if you work with a trustworthy turnkey provider, but you shouldn't trust any of them to tell you the condition of the property and the situation when you should be checking up on all of that yourself.

My thought is if they can’t treat this process like a job interview or some other important priority in their life, then paying rent on time won’t be a priority for them either.

Also “if Life punches you in the face, you roundhouse kick that sucker back”.

I lost months of my life and hours of sleep trying to figure it out and after a while I quit.

Like in most cases in life, the answer is it DEPENDS. 

Invest part time as you save and adjust your plans as you go through life.

You have to be smart about finding the right property, but so much of the learning (unfortunately) will be done in real life experiences- for me anyway.

If you walk into an occupied house that the occupant doesnt want you in, you might be playing with your life.

That is exciting that you are winding down this stage of life.

Absolutely, I think many things in life happen for a reason.