Goal is to work towards financial freedom one day by taking the first step into real estate and hopefully slowly ease into full time real estate one day.

This is a great forum with very knowledgeable members that will help to guide you in the right direction.If you are looking to connect with other members near you, or want to learn from people in a specific area you’d like to invest in, or have a desire to find people interested in certain topics, you could start your search here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/search/usersThere are a few self-contained guides that you can access here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides

Hi @Bhavik Doshi due to FHA Self Sufficiency rule it's very hard to find a 3/4 unit in the DMV that works for financing.  

Technology has made it easier to self-manage.5.

It is up to you to determine that point in time. Rely

Biggerpockets is publishing a new book on self storage on November 18 and a lot of those concepts are covered there.

Gross income is simpler to compare as well especially with self employed people.

And you'll find that most people in here aren't big fans of arbitrage (but paradoxically are crusaders for self-management).

Feel free to visit our company website (in my signature below) if you want to get some idea of how we operate; we self-manage a reasonable amount of single-family homes (and occasionally apartments) through this website.

Try going on some websites for self-directed IRAs.