I've been successfully self-employed as a handyman/carpenter since I arrived and I'm excited about getting involved with real estate investing.  

They are already hard enough to find on the MLS.I would have loved to buy a house last year but I was a job hopper for many years after college so unfortunately no one will lend to me until I can show them 2 years of consistent self employment income from my business.   

These are fairly common and, as a bachelor, would make an ideal area for me to reserve for personal use while the main home sees both personal and rental use.4.

I've read in many places in the BP forums and elsewhere that I should now aggressively attack the debt I carry with prepayments (debt snowball is commonly recommended).The idea of owning my properties free and clear appeals to me (I don't like making mortgage payments, especially the interest portion thereof). 

Do you work a day job or are you self-employed?

Occupied reo’s on auction sites are common. 

Another common issue I'm finding is that PM's goals are misaligned with my own.

If you're self-employed, the Solo 401k plan will likely work better for you.A few Solo 401k benefits: Compared to an IRA, Solo 401k contributions limits are roughly ten times higher.There is no custodial requirement for the 401k.The Solo 401k can allow you to borrow funds from the plan, unlike with IRAsYou don't need the additional expense and administration of an LLC to have checkbook control.There is a built in-Roth component whereas IRAs are either traditional or Roth, not both.A spouse can also participate in the same Solo 401k plan.The Solo 401k has additional tax benefits over an IRA when investing into real estate using leverage.

We should help each other to achieve that common goal.

REI and stock investing don't have leverage in common so you can't really compare them.