My plan, constructive criticism is welcome

[Victor Trujillo]

Hello there! Thank you for you time. As the title suggest, I'll be sharing my plan of action. Do post in the discussion where I can improve upon it, or perhaps what you'd do differently if in my shoes.

I'm a couple of months away from getting out of the military. 

Upon ETS I'll be heading straight into employment, will be a 6-5 job 5 days a week, weekends off (when I plan to do my real estate work).

When I've received my first paycheck from this company I'll be able to begin applying for pre-approval on a VA home loan (according to the lender I've been in contact with I must have my first paycheck before I can begin this process, and cannot line up a property to move straight into out of the military, even with a letter of intent to hire from my future employer). My county limit is upwards of $700,000. The property will be a 4-unit multi-plex/apartment/town-home (the most units you're eligible to acquire with this type of loan).

After a month or two, or however long it takes for me to become a decent/good property manager of my own property, I'll become a property manager for other landlords in my area. The aim of this is to get a very good idea as to what the best practices are for managing real estate on a variety of properties. 

I see this as my way of getting into the real estate game, and assessing how things are in my county with regards to the REI game as far as local investors/property managers/tenant types. Perhaps I'll even run into a mentor through doing this (one of the landlords I manage for).

This is the extent of my plan I'll be sharing here, if you've read up until this point, I am truly grateful. Time isn't refundable! 

[Lumi Ispas]

@Victor Trujillo great plan up to a point. Love your idea of buying immediately a four flat.

Regarding the other part of the plan, I advise you to start working part-time for a property management to learn the back office work and then the field work. Take 6 months to a year to learn all the jobs that a property manager does before you offer to manage other people's properties. It's not as easy as it sounds and there are too many laws and rules that you can break. Also, you will probably need some type of license.  Most people underestimate the amount and type of work a property manager does.

Remember that you'll make a lot of mistakes in the first year and will have to figure a lot out. Do it under someone else's license and under their mentoring. Most great mentors don't have time to teach people.  Now if you work for them, you get the training and get paid!

You'll also meet a lot of subs and contractors, all contacts you'll need later. 

You might as well start working for a property management first and then buy your building if you could.

Good luck to you!