@Jay Hinrichs, funny that you mention cities don’t like parks because of the ghettos and trash with the way people live, every city I hv ever visited people live like pigs not to mention living in tents on the streets, maybe they should consider embracing mobile home parks instead of hating on them, they are the last affordable housing in this country 

I work as maintenance superintendent at a commercial building (about 80 000 sq ft) (4 years experience).So I love working in the Real Estate industry, And my goal is to start investing.But I am lost because in the USA there are many paths you can take to move forward in the real estate industry. 

We live in a part of the country that is growing extremely fast and construction has not kept up.

Same goes for rapidly growing cities and areas of the country.

Maybe we'll cross paths one day.

I want to get my home completed, but I would also like to start down the path of more financial freedom.So my question is: Would it look better to a bank to not have a current mortgage on my credit or should I look into a loan to have contractors complete my home and then pull equity from my home to put down on an investment property?

You can do well anywhere in the country with any strategy.

Anyone out there have airbnbs scattered around the country/world AND they self manage?

@Paul Bernthal At 15 years you are well down the path of realizing all the depreciation on the property you can. 

This is essentially what my wife and I do, but the opposite direction (aka, we have a short-term rental in VT ski country).