My purpose behind my decision to pursue REI is to gain financial freedom for wife and I, my future family as well as have the ability to make sure my parents are well taken care of once they reach the retirement age.If I had to label myself I’d want to be known as an open minded rental investor for all long term, mid term and short term investing, with the occasional flip for quicker capitol to put back into another rental.

Today we are economically diverse and showing job growth in several sectors.Having said that, I am not an economist (or a fortune teller) so these are just my thoughts after having gone through the Great Recession and knowing how housing-dependent we were then.Melanie

You can tell who is actually passionate about their job and passionate about the market usually pretty quickly.

I guess my challenge right now is to define the strategy and balance all the factors, such as job and population growth (value increase), cashflow (demand & supply market, interest rate, property tax, maintenance cost), and risk control (insurance etc). 

My job has steady income, but no W2s and no pay stubs.

@Eric Jones - Amazing job being patient, I'd have given up after 3 tries.  

I'm a 30 year old husband and soon-to-be dad in a dead end sales job in Alabama.

After a couple of years of treading the path to frugality to build this financial runway, I've networked with the greatest people who made this all happen, of course, it took the strength, determination, time, etc to place myself where I am today but, without the mentorship of my two great mentors whom I wish used BiggerPockets so I can mention, I don't believe I would have made it thus far relying on some whimsical dream that this will all pan out accordingly, thank you for everything Greg and Lashawn.In addition, I would like to thank Bigger Pockets for connecting me with the greatest realtor @Stephen Schmitt Who took my dreams and aspirations to the core when we first connected and spoke about my future goals to replace my W2 job for financial freedom. within three months of me deciding to pull the trigger and get pre-approved, we found this killer cash-cow that apprised over purchase price!!! 

One appeared visibly unoccupied, with a mattress and other debris on its porch and its upstairs windows boarded up.Of the remaining seven homes, The Inquirer was able to question residents of four about whether they continued to be charged rent.All said they had been.One tenant, Shanna Anderson, said she stopped being able to afford her $1,750-a-month rent to DHI Fund and RAD at her Parkside rowhouse after losing her job at a real estate brokerage during the pandemic.In late November, RAD threatened to evict her if she failed to pay $6,530 owed for unpaid rent since August.Her home’s rental license has been inactive since late July, according to L&I records.

There are several different types of income in the US tax code.Two main types are “active income” and “passive income".Active income is money you earn from working, such as wages from a W-2 job or income from running a business.Passive income is money you earn from investments like real estate, stocks, or rental income from your RE portfolio where you earn $ without actively working.Normally, you can't use passive losses (like losses from real estate investments) to offset active income like your salary from a W-2 job.That is unless you are an RE Pro.The reality is, that Real Estate Pro status is just a filing status similar to filing married or jointly.And if you are a real estate professional you CAN use passive real estate losses to offset active income from other sources.To qualify as an RE Pro you must:1.