Within the past three months, I have completed my associates degree and have been spending the time that I used to use studying for class to research more about real estate investing. 

@Matthew Logan Parnell  You can check this website for down payment assistance program   www.gadream.com. 

As an example, a house that requires $50K in structural work to be inhabitable might be so difficult for other buyers to purchase that a smart investor can pick up that property for much, much less than $50K below market value (and keep the spread as profit).Now, you might wonder why a homeowner (or another investor) wouldn't come in and pay closer to market value, spend $50K on structural repairs and then have some equity in the house.

Doesn’t need to be your cash getting the deals.But my advice would be to spend this time learning, watching, contributing wherever you can and connecting with other investors.

The catch is you have to plan on spending two weeks out of the year there. 

Roughly 43 million American households have opted to rent rather than buy their homes because of convenience, cost or both." and "demand for affordable housing exceeding supply, more than one-quarter of all renters – 11.1 million people in total – spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing.

You are asked to assist our pest control by maintaining a high standard of good housekeeping.

There is definitely money to made in SS, and plenty of people are doing it.I'll also add to Mike's comments that small increases are easily attainable as (1) tenants typically aren't talking to each other about price (i.e. comparing their rent), etc and (2) most tenants don't find a small increase in price motivation enough to spend money on a moving truck and spend a weekend or more moving their belongings to a new facility.

What's to say that it has to be the place where you spend most your time?

If you're ever looking for assistance, I have owned and operated multiple sober living programs for about 6 years now and also have been in the investor/landlord position across the US.