Getting Started/Introduction

[Steven LaClair]

Let me just start out and say I've been looking for a forum like this for awhile. Just as an intro my name is Steve and I'm 25. I'm from Fayetteville North Carolina which the home of one of the largest Military communities. I've always been facinated with real estate and success stories of the guys that made it but I guess the reality of it for me is that it always seemed out of reach.

Well my company is offering to send me overseas to one of those warzone countries (I'm an IT guy, not a killer, plus I know a bunch of guys already over there it's rather safe) and it comes with rather sizable compensation. I'd rather not be the typical american and come back with some italian sports car but perhaps use cash that's in the bank to make an investment in my future and get me into an exciting career for once.

So the question I'm posing to the experts, if you were just starting and had a giant lump sum of money (roughly 220k after taxes) to play with in a market that isn't really inflated what would you do?

I have a long time to really sort this out and think of a strategy but I figured this wouldn't be a bad place to start!

Thanks,
Steve