My name is Alex and I first got interested in real estate at the end of 2017 when I realized I didn't want to drift into the "average" lifestyle I'd seen modeled by most of the people in my life. 

Concentrate on saving as much money as you possible can by living a frugal life style.

Also with no kids, you might want to consider renting untill you figure that part out, lifestyle, space, daycare/schools take on a different meaning then they do now.

I lived the Surban lifestyle and most of my investing has been in a Surban market. 

so day after day I ask myself when I'm going to "retire" or go full time real estate. right now my answer seems to be in the mid 30s but sometimes I think what if I do it sooner. sometimes I wonder if I should push it out cause of my inflated lifestyle.

It is still fully possible, you just need to be conscious of the fact.If you buy with a VA loan and want to refinance, you can do a couple things:IRRRL refinance: This can give you up to 100% of the value as cash-out.

In a high appreciation area, typically the market appreciation is greater than the depreciation of the rehab aging.In San Diego, the rehab returns are great and historically the ROI on financed buy n hold is near the best in the nation.In your plan, you will move from San Diego (at a financial cost as well as likely a lifestyle cost) to do BRRRR in an area that historically has not produced the ROI for buy n hold that San Diego has produced (verifiable fact) and is unlikely to have as great a return on the value add rehab as you could achieve in San Diego.I suggest before you move, you attend some San Diego RE meetups. 

It is definitely a lifestyle change for my wife and the kids, but we are willing to adjust for a greater purpose on venturing into a real estate business.4.

But it depends on your preferences, lifestyle, personal style, what's top on your list.

This is one of the quicker ways to build wealth and it fits a single lifestyle really well.