Newbie and active duty military

[Seth Mattox]

Hello everyone, first of all I’d like to say I’m extremely grateful for all the information found throughout this website and all the contribution from the real estate veterans and people looking to break in. Now to my question… I have been thinking about getting into real estate investing for some time and I think the opportunity is here(by next summer anyway). As the title says I am active duty military and my ultimate goal is to invest into rental properties in my home town in Virginia. My family owns a lot of contracting businesses from HVAC and plumbing to general contracting in the area and my support base would be great. Plus it’s a good market and close to a fast growing city without being inside the city limits. My problem is that I obviously move a lot. I am going to be moving to the Tacoma Washington area this coming summer and was considering buying a live in flip to start with. I was wondering in your opinion is that a good route to pursue? My thinking is that if I get the “right” place then I could live there for 6 months fix it up and sell for a profit to jump start the cash flow and then transition to investing in the area I want to retire in or if it goes well do it again. I have about 5 years until retirement and would really like to manage and invest in properties when I’m done. Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! 

-Seth