If it affect the habitability of the home, I would contact a lawyer, and you can probably hold your rent in escrow until the matter it resolved.

The biggest advice I can give is to secure a full-time job and save, build a habit of tracking your expenses and keep them low, build your credit (most useful if you will use a lender in the future), keep reading and learning about real estate investing, analyze deals (we're MBA's, we love analyzing!)

Virtue, as Aristotle says, is a habit in accord with reason.

one skill i developed, o rshall i say habit i developed, is just making small extra payments on loans..... that strategy REALLY WORKS for me....  

Can you make them bring in rent for as non-habitable space?

Make sure you sit down with your real estate attorney and CPA because they are a vital part of your business.

As we begin this journey, we'd like to develop good practices and habits.

I started putting my focus on finance books and podcasts and started to develop much better spending habits.

My idea of that is to buy a property first regardless of the condition as long as it is minimally habitable, live in it as is and repair it along the was as quickly as the OP can afford, and eventually have a property worth much more than was paid for it.Some investors might disagree with that and wish to have a property that is in a more upgraded appearance. 

Do not poo poo the leaning of the legal side of real estate this is a vital part of real estate for both agents and investors.