As long as you're learning a lot along the way and not repeating any mistakes, I think you'll be destined for REI greatness.

Hopefully, it doesn't overshoot the trend line to the downside.When I see people posting fluffy stuff like San Francisco is a world class city, an international destination, and they ain't making any more land, it reminds me of the exact same arguments that people were making in 2005-06 to justify speculative investment decisions.

The route 99 Septa bus does pass through parts of Phoenixville (as well as King of Prussia); you might want to look at the transit map for that route to see how close that bus gets to your planned destination.

For instance, take a homeowner who uses a vacation rental manager to rent her home in Destin, Florida, a beach vacation hotspot, but then buys a house in Aspen, Colorado, a ski resort area.

Tim,SoCal would be our dream destination :) But it's also quite expensive (may be not so much if you compare living standards in Toronto- avg house price for a decent house is a million).  

., ...David J Dachtera"Success is not a destination.

We have a strong military presence here (Navy Diver training, Navy Seals Academy, Tyndall Airforce  -top gun flight school) and our International Port is expanding though it's already the largest exporter of wood pellets to Europe and copper importing to the East Coast.I mention all that to drive home the point that this area is becoming more and more of a destination attraction with amenities that were never here before.

I always recommend to refer to a simple guide about turnkey to drill down the secondary and tertiary factors you may want to weight ahead of defining the final destination.

That eliminates 99.999% of the general population.If she's looking for family and security, this will be a major issue for her.Settle this issue first, then - if you're still on track to invest in real estate - come back for more input.That said, you could soften it a  bit by bringing up the idea of what the denizens of BP call "house hacking": buying a 2-4 unit, living in one and having the other(s) pay some or all of the monthly payment from the rent you charge.My $0.02...David J Dachtera"Success is not a destination.

I find myself wondering without a path, only a destination.