I have been looking under the podcast and under startup but some of those articles are a little over my head, or information I am not really concerned about ta the moment. right now I have been trying to do research on property analysis and running the numbers and what they mean. 

Ask the right questions in the forums and learn from the experiences of other Investors that have walked the path you are headed towards!

If you just put the @ and wait, it will search through the entire database, but if you "give it a head start", it will take much less time to populate your options.

Do any current investors have opinions on whether it's worth it to focus on paying off a property rapidly like this as opposed to merely taking it slow and gradually building equity?

I am looking at potentially doing both but leaning more to renting at this moment though if a good flip opportunity comes along I will take it head on.

(You might be able to get the list the day before if you ask)  Head to the clerks office and there should be a list of all the cases to be heard that day.

A light bulb went off in my head recently where I concluded that real estate is probably the best investment to aid me in achieving my goals.

The GRM was under 100, but the tenants turned over far too rapidly (higher average vacancy rate) and the property was older (higher maintenance cost), and the tenants damaged the property as well (yet higher maintenance cost, note broken window syndrome).  

Let me start off by saying that I have NO connection with FB or Than Merrill whatsoever. Many folks come here looking for "free" education. Well, here it comes, like it or else.Than Merrill will be all over the TV cha...

Secured credit card, Secured Credit Loans, Go buy a car, pay it off rapidly (1 year), buy another, pay it off too.