I want to protect my personal assets and do what makes the nest business sense.  

I want to protect my personal assets and do what makes the nest business sense.

Use your VA loan to put a roof over your head in CA FIRST and foremost.. to use all your liquidity to buy a rental that makes 100 to 200 a month is really really not to the thing to do.. you have a bad day with one tenant and you could find your self broke really fast.do not do this until you have more liquidity.. and have the means to scale to 10 doors really quickly.I know its contrarian.. but I have seen many of folks just like you have bad days.REmember anyone encouraging you to do this in your current financial situation  is simply looking to feather their own nest.

I just started and want to start where I live buying real estate, so I haven't bought anything in Augusta, but that is my next hunting ground when I get a good understanding and nest egg. 

There are age-appropriate investments in stock mutual funds and bond mutual funds that could reasonably safely yield you 6% on your $345,000 nest egg.

The first couple of years you track bills and then adjust accordingly in the years to come after you have a better track record to go off of...2) You might look to have the thermostat moved, otherwise perhaps you can do a nest and control it remotely? 

The first couple of years you track bills and then adjust accordingly in the years to come after you have a better track record to go off of...2) You might look to have the thermostat moved, otherwise perhaps you can do a nest and control it remotely?

I would be terrified to be a renter going in to retirement on a limited budget in our rental market, even if I had a nest egg.

I have bought and sold a couple of personal residences, so I guess I have that going for me.Honestly I'm less worried about the mistakes I know I'll make than I am about taking so much of my nest egg and doing something like this with it, even though I've run the numbers a million times and it sure looks like it will be a good long term play.

On top of all this, I've been living below my means and have managed to save a nice little nest egg over the past year.