There's no commission splits and you have the freedom of controlling all of your own costs and marketing.

I know when I worked for a GC, we had LDs on our contracts, due to the fact that if we ran past the end date, the client would be losing money from rents, school attendance, or manufacturing time lost(we did mid sized educational, healthcare, assisted living, food/drink manufacturing plants, etc...).

It's a good read:  "Stop Flipping Stop Renting: Seller Finance Your Way to Financial Freedom" by Arch and Saengerhausen.  

My goal is to grow my portfolio to a point in which I have the freedom to continue on my career path or choose to live off passive income.

Then when you graduate and get a job you have the freedom to move where you want and get something that makes sense then vs now. 

For Californians, OOS investing is the only way to go if you are starting off and want to accelerate your financial freedom, in my opinion.  

It is hard to make a plan about the financial freedom i want to achieve since I'm not exactly sure where i will be in 5 years but as of right now for the next two and a half i will be in eastern VA but plan on moving back to NJ (where the property taxes are insane) but that is where i want to plant my feet forever.

We are both healthcare professionals by trade, which will remain our primary source of income, but for the long-term we wish to invest in multiple vacation rentals that provides us financial freedom from our primary source of income and allows us to spend more time outside the four walls and enjoy life.

My goal in the next few years is to transition to more FT real estate and work PT as a pharmacist (still need healthcare benefits and W2 income for a bit). 

Chris - sounds like you're very motivated to get into real estate to get financial freedom.