@Mary Jay One of the hardest aspects of finding deals is controlling your pipeline. 

Except you need to add in tax planning, asset protection, having local resources to handle emergencies as they arise, knowing the ins and outs of each property so you can anticipate problems, having the experience to know if the turnkey provider is being reasonable in all aspects and understanding how problems are handled, along with knowing local laws regarding rentals and evictions and occupancy rates and keeping the momentum going.

I understand the social aspect is a huge part of college, but there can be other ways to build that environment that we'll slowly adapt to. 

@Karo DarmandzhyanDavid Greene's book pretty much covers all operational aspects.

Do they handle all aspects of renovation/construction, or did you have to contract certain things to others, like electrical, plumbing, etc?

This is very frustrating because calling from a cell to out of state is very costly, and with all the new technology around I just don't see any good reason to do that. 

Mix high quality rentals with a flipping strategy and boom you have a business that will pay you in many different aspects

I know I opened a credit card halfway through college to start to build credit and also interned at the same company for 2+ years during school so I don't necessarily know if those aspects helped me qualify or if you would be able to qualify just by having a full time job right out of school.

And if you are going to do it on the legal side (getting permits) then when you start messing with structure/supports then that opens a whole new aspect and expense having to deal with engineers and general contractors licensed to do that type of work.

Much of this is attributed to some unique aspects of our market, namely the "landlocked" nature of the county.