You are "fairly confident" that you can raise rent to $700, but don't sound too sure about $800, but the property only meets your criteria at $800 rent.

You will meet a ton of like minded folks.Third: start building a network ie lawyer, realtor, CPA, inspector, loan officer, or preferred bank and property managers if flip goes sideways.That is my 2 cents on your up coming adventure.

I am studying real estate during my free time but would love to get some hands on experience especially meeting people in the industry!

Bluff them a bit, you can probably see what they're willing to come down and then throw a low verbal offer to see where they'd meet you.

It's a nice 3BR1BA house which needs no major repairs and could use cosmetic upgrades such as paint, flooring, landscaping, appliance and cabinet upgrades possibly (which I will all be doing myself while living there).

Everyone I’ve been on either side of the deal I didn’t meet the week before.

Could another cabinet of drawers fit in there? 

I need a garage for my many hobbies, the wife needs a pool and I haven't seen a reasonable multi yet that can meet that criteria.

I'm pretty new to it myself, still figuring out how it works, which part of it I want to be involved with...I know one suggestion I hear a lot about is going to Real Estate Investment meetings/ Associations.

For the car it would be also for traveling to other areas for potential RE investing and to network and meetings