I would really like to retire from patient care practicing within 5 years and just do real estate investing as my new second career to  build wealth (still owe student loans but I'm investing versus paying them) and live comfortably in retirement. 

I’m wondering is this necessary if I only plan on being an investor and not necessarily building a career?

It's good information to know but not necessarily at the beginning of your real estate investing career.

. ;-) Prices are such that you can make great cash flow.Mike,I heard great thing about Luke AFB and that is one of the bases that is open for my career field.

Depending on what type of underwriting method a Mortgage Broker found most suitable for your scenario + your credit score, you could get slightly lower interest rate although 6% is a good number to plug in to be conservative.  

Very early in my real estate career, but looking to make my move.

The NW rehab estimation was $40k but the contractor knew the area and decided it would be much more suitable to make it a rental, so he bid it at $43k to rehab as rental-grade instead of flip-grade.

Although, the idea of buying a tear down is appealing from a development perspective but I not at that point in my investing career to take on such a project.

With Marines, we get very minimal say in where we go but I would like to ask for the best opportunity to develop my real estate career.

I'm new to REI, and since I work a very demanding professional career in a high COL state, turnkey REI seems tailor-made for folks like me.