Your motivation and drive are inspiring to witness - thanks for sharing your plan for your REI career.Lots of good advice already shared in the comments here, so I'll just say it all comes down to the life you want to have.

Charles with 3.5% down and then moved out and now rent it - just like your plan), is that the numbers might not be beautiful - it can be tough to accomplish with such a low down payment.

The beauty of real estate. 

Our backyard was lush green with beautiful grass. 

I just bought a beautiful home and, while I dont need it, would like to move in two working professionals into the two vacant rooms while I lived I stayed in the master. 

I'm having problems visualizing how to fix up properties to the extent that they need to be, and not overspending to make it beautiful or restore to former glory.

Let your rentals pay for your big beautiful house.

We came across this little 2BR/1 BA ea average condition duplex in the downtown area built in 1964 with beautiful hardwood floors, just in need of a little TLC and updating (eventually).

After all, the beauty of real estate is that investors get paid in multiple ways – principal pay down, appreciation, depreciation, etc.

The 9 acres for this property was beautiful, but the house was definitely not for us.