I have now acquired about 35 rentals in a very short period of time (15 months). 

In a few short years (goes by fast when working hard), you will be able to give your boss notice. 

I have mine in Fidelity and Vanguard no load, no fees and I can trade stocks & ETFs cheaply if I want.At Dow 26,000 I'd be dollar cost averaging out of equities honestly. 

I’ve never added any college type housing to my portfolio for various reasons and may just continue to stock pile cash for now

Stock market?

My short term goals to get started would be to get into the wholesaling side of real estate and earn capital to eventually invest in purchasing properties on my own for renting and also fixing/flipping.

Right now I am trying to consider the costs/benefits of taking some money out of stocks to buy a property in Belize, with the goal being using it for short-term rentals.

A lease option is a contract to rent a property with the option to buy it later at a certain price by a certain deadline, much like a stock options. 

But that being said, it's also equally short sighted to say that taxes are inevitable so just pay them always and be done.  

Cranberry Twp is a suburb of Pittsburgh and doesn't seem to have much of a short term rental market.