Even before 2020 I'd never leverage my retirement just to do REI.

My dad is retired and doesn't technically have income, and we couldn't combine my income with his credit score to purchase the property.

Id say the majority of people who move are retired and looking for more affordability.

I my case I'm just setting up my holding LLC so I can build business credit while looking at deals with Rent-to-Retirement and then will set up my REI LLC/Land Trust where I do my deals. 

Welcome from a 'retired' GC from San Diego area.

I would like to see if I can put the money that I have put a side for investment property into a REIT and then when I retire from the military, would it be possible to do something like an 1031 exchanges into an investment property.

Once they sold enough units and got under 20% rentals, banks started lending and property values jumped.HOA fees always go up and you may have special assessments hitting you out of the blue, particularly in an HOA that's been mismanaged.HOAs have retired people with nothing better to do than spy on neighbors and report them.

Having a property management business may be good if you want to have ordinary income which will allow you to deduct health insurance / retirement plan contributions.

Started building a team around 2014, retired from my W2 in 2015 and got licensed as an agent on a team. 5 years ago I started my own team and we are now top 1% in Milwaukee, I also host a YouTube channel about Milwaukee real estate and I am on the board or the rental property association of Wisconsin, responsible for marketing. 

My goal is to retire in a low density condo/apartment in about 10yrs from now and live in the place I buy for atleast 6-8 months of the year.