Real estate investing is a much more active form of investing than stocks, but if you can figure out your personal advantages, it can also be more lucrative.Be aggressive, persistent, and active.

For example the Ohio City/GordonSquare area (I'm currently living in the area) to the west of 25th between Detroit and Lorain, the housing stock there still seems to be a hodgepodge of dumps with a smattering of new construction and a few rehabs/flips but I'm not sure I can point to a single block that has completely "arrived." 

I essentially house & pet sit in exchange for us living for free & not paying for Netflix or utilities etc when we're in places like LA and I also focus on our stock investments etc to make future money for us... ie, my "income" will not impress any banks.  

As some of you or maybe all of you may know, a reddit group called wallstreetbets used social to put a few wall street big names to shame:How r/WallStreetBets Made GameStop's Stock Price Soar: Reddit Takes on Short Sellers - TLDR News - YouTubeWas this good for you?

With that being said, the largest payment I made on my student loans was thrift a company stock program that took 2 years to materialize.

The two options you are looking at are private lending or stick it in the stock market. 

Things have gone well enough so far, consistent tenants, the cash flow has been enough to cover expenses and stock away a stash for larger repairs.  

This Stock Market Short Squeeze had tempted me and I got in. 

I really want to close on a house in the next few months, and just feel like a rookie in this market, I feel like I'm in the stock market.

You certainly wouldn’t argue that the stock market is less over valued than real estate.