Hello Everyone

[Clinton York]

Im 29 and currently in the Air Force station in Germany. Im a first time landlord (going on 4yrs) by default with a house in Gulf Breeze, Fl. My plans are to have enough passive income to retire at 39 and never have to work again. I know a lot of people think it might be impossible but my retirement location will be Thailand where the cost of living is less than America. Anyways I'm working on my plan to buy my next property and was wondering how I should do it. I current saving up and will have around $30k to spend and not sure which direction to go. Should I out right buy a house or use the $30k as a 20% down on a more expensive house? I would like to going to invest in the panhandle area of fl. 

[Elizabeth Colegrove]

Welcome to Biggerpockets!

You found the place to be! You will find no better place to build a solid platform than bigger pockets. The one thing we all agree up on is that we invest in real estate. Beyond that everyone has a different niche! The key is to figure out your goals, current "resources" and build a plan from there. 

It looks like you are already have a great plan! Our goal is very similar! My husband is active duty navy. Our goal is to use retirement pension AND our cash flow to sail around the world on a boat. And well have a house too :) my requirement!

We are buy and hold investors who invest in class A properties self-managing from a distance while working full time. So we do work on furthering our careers. We live very frugally allowing us to live off of one income and save the other. We have further our career and used the W2 income to leverage our real estate portfolio.

I highly recommend you also check out- the blogs, forums and listen to the podcasts. If you see a post you enjoy check out the persons signature. As many of us have created resources around our niche (websites, blogs, etc) so checking out the signature is a great to get more information. Make sure you don't miss out on networking is by filling out your signature, profile and pming people with questions.

Look forward to seeing you around! Let me know if I can help! Good luck!!!