New to REI and needing advice!

[Jared Rodes]

Hello BP,

I'm brand new to REI and have really enjoyed the learning process and am excited to try my hand.

I would really appreciate some advice on an investment that I am strongly considering. My concern is primarily, whether or not I should leverage myself with a loan (VA or conventional). Also, I could use some help detecting problems I may run into with my proposed plan. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Here is my situation:

I am active duty military, Ft Leonard Wood, MO, and will be transitioning out in seven months.  The rental market is very very strong here and I think it would be very advantageous to buy a "turn-key" four plex here before I leave.  Upon leaving my wife and I will spend a year travelling and then she will start medical school, location is TBD.  Upon transitioning I do not plan to hold a job for a year and a half, give or take some.  That said, I do not think I will be able to attain another loan once we settle in for her medical school, at least until I have started and held a job for about two years (this is my speculation).

Being that we could buy a four plex in the area outright, I am not to worried about obtaining a loan while I have an income to allow me to do so. Once we get to her medical school location, I would like to start up again with REI. Using a loan now, on a property that I would not worry about negative cash flow, would allow me to use my current capital upon settling in to start back in REI.

As stated above, can anyone see a major fault in this scenario? Or some problems I will run into in the future? 

I'm new, eager to learn, and excited about the prospects!

Dusty