If you do rent by the room watch out for local unrelated person ordinances.

Look at buying a 2-4 unit, live in one unit, rent the rest.You'll get an unbelievable education!

However, when you rent out a portion of your home, you need to make sure you're properly dividing any expenses you pay to maintain the home between personal and rental uses.

The city's strong educational and medical sectors make it a prime investment hub.

I do believe for what you clarified from your original post that breaking even is okay and you'll be using it for personal use that you can do this. 

Personally, I'd recommend multiple properties, but that all depends on your long term goals.

CCIM has a Development Specialty Track that may interest you.https://www.ccim.com/education/professional-development/deve...

I’m working on an Amazon-based side hustle at the moment, and have been trying to break into tech for the last year with 10 personal apps set to release on the App Store sometime this year.

I personally have success in doing flips with my partner here in Ohio.

My goal is that in 6 months I have legit offers on the table for rentals or other real estate ventures that allow me to move away from education.