My goal is to buy land and build my dream home within 7 years in NC and continue building my portfolio and ENJOY life while I'm younger(ish).I do work a job, it is 4 days/week FT. 

It all depends what are your true goals and if you are able to have the income without a degree to achieve buying your rentals.

It depends on what you want to accomplish and what your goals are. 

.”~ Ronnie ColemanKinda like Real Estate....everyone wants to be financially independent or rich, but not everyone wants to put in the time or maintain that singular determination required to not let anything get in the way of accomplishing that goal.

Providing input for you on renting vs buying (investing) at this point doesn't help much as it really depends on your budget and short/long term goals. 

However, if your main goal is to own cash flowing properties this may not be a potential deal breaker for you. 

For example, would we both co-purchase the property even if my goal is to buy and hold longterm and want to buy their interest out of the deal?

The goal is to build a team to grow our real estate investing to the next level.

If you have lived in that property for 2 out of the 5 years prior to sale you can exempt the first $250K of gain ($500K if married) tax free!! 

I would take the cash flow and save it in order to invest in more properties.Ultimately my goal is to have nice paid for SFH rentals.