Getting into real estate

[Michael Andre]

Hello, 

As recently posted my wife and I are interested in real estate investing. I am active duty military and we both know we wont be able to buy our dream home and raise our family in it because we will be moving quite often. We feel that getting into real estate investing is a good alternative that will likely set us up for our dream home in retirement. I do have the great benefit of using the VA loan however, where I am stationed now we are already renting a place. To use the VA loan to purchase a single family home would require us to move once again which is costly, not to mention it would be the sixth time in 3 years for out family. We are looking for a way to purchase a home and not have to live in it, something we could purchase and rent out immediately and put no money down. We are stationed in Champaign, IL at the University of Illinois. We will be here until the Summer of 2020. We will then get stationed at Quantico, Virginia for about 9 months possibly a year, but we can never be sure.

We were also thinking about using the VA loan when moving to Quantico. My wife's family lives there so after we move out and starting renting the house her father would be and excellent hand in helping with the property. But then again the requirements for the VA loan are that you live in it for at least one year and we just can't be sure we will have that time there.

In short, we are seeking advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation. As I am sure there are many options we aren't thinking about. 

Thank you in advance for your time,

Michael and Sarah