Since your condo isn't going to be available forever, and it should only take you about 1.5 years to buy enough investment properties to cover the $700 a month, (at your current savings rate), I would lean towards point 3 for buying the new home.You did mention building equity in the new home that you intend to live in. 

Motivated by pure financial stability, I know I cannot continue in the service industry forever.

This is for investors, not personal consumers of real estate.  

Get with Benetrends they have an office on both the east and west coast and have been ROBS experts forever.

Obviously, I can't do this forever, as the tenants would never pay the house off. 

In Brandon's book, it seems that rental property investing can be a very time-consuming process.

As for learning it is an A/B process: A- get into the Real Estate industry as a FT profession, be it as a realtor, a PM, assistant whatever just GET IN andB- Consume every learning and growing opportunity available for an extended period of time, become knowledgeable. 

So much of the consumer market is heading in this direction and we want to know several things.1.

As people grow their business, it becomes more time consuming to be successful and continue building.

I do like my apartment, but I am getting married, and I know my soon to be wife won't want to house hack forever.