Do I need to live/stay in the same area I'm investing in?

[Adam Allard]

I'm a 26 year old married man with 2 children wanting to start real estate investing. I have great credit and I'm prior military (meaning great VA home loan options and/or USAA home loan options). However, my wife is still active duty, meaning that we are constantly moving.

In fact, we're moving to CA in just a couple months but will only there for a little over a year. Then we'll be getting stationed near Baltimore, and could be there for a couple years then move somewhere else.

So, this is really my biggest concern right now buying rental properties. Would I still survive jumping into this new adventure even with a strict moving schedule for the next couple years, or would it be recommended that I hold off until our residence is a little more stable? 

[Brandon Battle]

When you pick the right rental properties and property management to do the actual work,your personal location is irrelevant.I know many investors who live in California and invest exclusively in Ohio,Indiana,and Tennessee multi-family properties and never even meet the tenants or deal with any of the headaches that they can bring on.Some are retired and travel full time in RVs and boats and never have a permanent home.