Her choices in design and decor resulted in immediate interest from lots of buyers, and the fact that she had just received her real estate license allowed us to avoid paying a seller agent fee.

Welcome @Erik Vik if it means anything at all, engineers typically skyrocket in this business...good conceptual mind...I would always encourage looking for deals close to home, but the Midwest is probably your safest bet for finding value. 

So rather than trying to decide if you should flip or hold a property, figure out what makes a good property for your strategy of choice.

Another investor beat me to my first choice property, but James sent a personal customized video response to me via email with a few other, similar recommendations. 

So you could view it as more of a necessity than a choice.

If you're not happy about your financial situation, you have to make better choices, find a better job, cut spending, get a roommate, etc.

I need some advise or direction, I don’t want to make the wrong choice.

(I also have about $10,000 in car payments left - another stupid choice I made when I was younger; I do have a credit score of 752 and absolutely no credit card debt.) 

so you trade one job for another.. one you run yourself the other your working for someone.. its a personal choice. there was an interesting back and forth over on the " rent control is sweeping the nation thread"" with a couple of SF long time landlords.and as one pointed out  his 13 doors are worth 200 plus doors in the mid west his cash flow is as much if not more ( he bought in the 90s is appears)  so he self manages his 13 doors  his renters are all mid level or higher Tech types  who can pay 2500 to 5k per door for rent.

Unfortunately, the market crashes at Month 10, now there are two choices.1) Sell the property at 70% of the purchase price.2) Keep the property, but make no cash flow for however long it takes for the market to bounce back to its original value - maybe five to ten years.