Finally have the means but don't know where to start...

[Bradley Shuhart]

Hi everyone! First of all thank you for all the knowledge and information being shared, it's extremely helpful. I'm in a position to really start towards my goal of building wealth through RE investing. It's something I've always been interested in but was too scared/didn't necessarily have the means. I'm in process of retiring from the military and have already started a new career. I will be making substantially more money and my wife also just got a promotion and raise. I feel we are now in a good financial position to start but I don't know exactly how. We are high earners but haven't accumulated much yet. We only have about $50k to apply towards down payments. I currently have a VA loan and have about 327,800 entitlement remaining (81,954*4). I have a 2.75% rate so I don't want to refi out of that loan. I currently live in a very HCOL area, SoCal, but am willing to invest out of state. I'm literally willing to fly somewhere and look this weekend if the deal and market were good. I'm also willing to have a negative cash flow on rentals for a year or so if I'm operating in a high growth market. I've been looking into VA assumptions but they get tricky with entitlements and occupancy requirements (this is still vague to me. I've been told the occupancy is met by original buyer and the assumer doesn't need to meet it).

I guess my question is, given my circumstances what would be the best way to start?  Would I be better looking in LCOL but growth markets where my $50k is a higher percentage?  Would I be better just trying to be a partner with my income?  Should I just wait and build up my down payment $?