Hello Everyone, I am a active duty marine looking to invest in my first property before the year is out.

I actually have some clients and friends who are moving from California for the husband to work for the Marines in Nola and are shopping for a home in Covington.I think your plan to buy a multifamily home with the VA loan is genius.

I love these but they are not without their hurdles.All of these containers are made in China with marine grade paint and heavily treated chemicals in the flooring to prevent insect and rodent infestation.

My dad is retired military, so its seems there are some nice options available for either navy federal or marine federal (which he is already a member of).

@Kevin Ferguson, I don't invest in 29 Palms, but I invest in several military towns and I am an active duty Marine.  

Our focus has mainly been on high growth markets in Marin, San Francisco and Yolo counties (UC Davis territory), SW Florida and most recently Las Vegas. 

my san francisco home of ~30 years is about to close (under contract for ~$2M+) and i need to shelter about half for a 1031, since we rented the downstairs & the cottage. the SF home is ~95% paid off, so i'll have about $900k for the 1031 and about the same in cash. my wife and i will use our $500k homeowners exemption to offset the tax hit for the non-rental portion. i'm now living in marin county, near my primary care medical office, but home prices here are astronomic compared w/ elsewhere. i won't have time to do the management myself (even locally) for quite a while, so i'll need somebody to do that, whether i buy locally or not. the only RE investment i've ever made is the SF house in the 1980s, which i bought for about a fifth of the purchase price. but since i won't be practicing forever, and don't have much saved, i'll be relying on the ~1.8M+ as retirement income someday. needless to say, the free clinic didn't offer a 401k ;^) triple nets seem a little scary, since i don't have a feel for them. my dad was a contractor, and i helped him take care of tenants in the few small MF buildings he built, and i've been a landlord (for the tenants in my SF house).

take action - this is the next step, and most important.I'm an active duty Marine, and our portfolio has 53 rental units in it currently.

Btw, I was station in Hawaii when I was in the military (Kenneth is a Marine veteran too).

@James Park  agree with all except the bubble part... in the Bay Area at least the West Bay from Marin county down to Los Gatos the home prices have all rose on a par with Cupertino... be them heavy to Asian or not...