Prior to my current job I served in the Marine Corps for 5 years.

I am a working professional with a full time 9-6 job.

but that was 20 years ago and the market may have changed, I don't know.But here's something else to consider; you said you're losing your job.

I am going back to school soon to finish my Bachelors and have a full time job.

If I'm right about paying no tax on a land contract for an amount exactly what I paid plus all improvements, then I'd rather do that than take the hit on the sale.  

I have general construction knowledge from having different construction jobs and general REI knowledge which I learned mostly on BP.

However, I went to the first meeting and the main speaker was an out-of-town guy giving a super high-pressure sales job for some MLM program called "Financial Education Services Protection", which didn't actually have anything to do with real estate, other than he was pitching us to pressure credit challenged prospects into buying this (my opinion) predatory program.

@James Edmister Wholesaling and fix-and-flipping are jobs, not necessarily investing.

Hey, i'm currently a 16 year old still in school working a part time job, my plan is to save and get a small passive income throughout uni by looking at shares and real estate.

Others choose to claim CCA each year, which means they have some tax savings and could use those savings for improvements, maintenance, or other investments.