I had a 5 family but lost it through relying on myself and not seeking the help or advice from others.

An option could be to move to Jacksonville, and as soon as possible to work at Mayo Clinic, buy land in Alachua, then once you're ready to rely solely on REI money, move to your plot in Alachua.

I'm fairly new to RE and am quickly learning that relying on realtors to set up MLS deals is not the best way to go.

You cannot make calculated decisions without an education, otherwise you are hoping to make the right choice relying on luck. 

If you find a big enough "why", then you will find that burning desire to begin.thought=desire=massive action=result.I was in the same predicament, but I realized I needed to increase my investing for my family and to create wealth instead of only relying on my business for income.  

However if you do still follow through with the deal, I would highly advise hiring an experienced RE attorney, and not just rely on a title agent, to review the file to ensure it was foreclosed on properly.  

I'll get to know the neighborhood better and will definitely tread lightly and have my boots on the ground or someone else I can rely on.

Any time you invest it can be risky. some people have horror stories about renting to college students some love it, i personally have two of them and have had no problems. you can make some good money with college rentals. keep an eye on what the college is doing, i bought these two, SFH &  a 2 FH  - the college has been doing a lot of work including new dorms, there was a report done saying they still would not have enough housing and will rely on off campus housing to fill it, two years later, enough students did not want to stay in the dorms and the college turned and mandated that all Freshman AND Sophomores must live in the dorms. this has put a dent in the rental business in town ( i've been pretty lucky because i fixed up my places when i bought them). so you do not know what will happen any where.

Sad the advisors, attorney's we rely on,  who recommend doing this don't either.

When it comes time to actually put money down, you can bet I'm not going to be relying on Zillow for property valuations.