I'm currently in education mode which I hope to emerge from before summer's end and complete at least one deal by the end of the year.

My advantages that I know of are my ability to get a mortgage (W-2 income, credit, and debt ratio are all good), having enough cash and house equity to get a 25% down non-occupied loan on a SFH or duplex (in my market), willingness to sell and move to house hack a 3-4 unit, understanding the fundamentals and math of small residential REI, love of learning "systems", and being a complete badass at life in general ;)My disadvantages that I know of are that I don't have experience yet in buying/managing rentals, and I haven't met enough other investors to learn about a lot of deals early in the pipeline.What would you do in my situation?

Also completely web-based, I find it to be a much easier platform for someone with little/no bookkeeping or accounting knowledge. 

What are your numbers after the rehab is completed?

I know the general idea for beginning to invest is to just jump right in, and I am completely ok with doing that, but am I really ready?

I can do a lot of it myself, but need to completely gut the kitchen so I’m not sure if there’s a lot of room for profit there.I had originally intended to just live in this house so I didn’t look at all of this before I purchased it. 

Then I fixed that problem completely by doing what @John Underwood and @Thomas S. do. 

Anyways in the next few months I should have enough cash to have the option to buy something and I was wondering if I'm completely crazy to attempt to purchase anything while still paying rent for my current place.

He is a tradesman so enjoys the work, but much of the house needs constant tinkering or complete replacement - costly in both time, money, and stress.

I completely agree with this.