Being a good and humble student, accepting advice and sometimes criticism with gratitude will take you far.

I have the start up funds necessary and have been doing my due diligence in the research aspect.

Also, what if this is not the only aspect of your business (also own rentals)?

I see certain aspects of each that I like.

I was surprised to that you need a RE license to do property management but I guess the leasing aspect of it is the reason. 

I have stayed away from buying their properties because I am not familiar enough with the whole aspect of understanding which liens are or are not wiped out and I am not at a point to take the time to self educate myself. 

Given your location, it's critical to get the roof done asap.  

It is a good community to network and learn about all aspects of real-estate investing.

The ability to decipher, assign priority and categorization of emails is critical and very difficult.  

Unless you are very risk aversive, this is the smarter play.I did pay off my own personal property....... from a financial aspect, not necessarily the smartest choice, but the satisfaction and stability of not having that debt appealed to us...... no matter what happens in my life, I don't have a mortgage on my own house to pay each month.