Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.I've been investing in the industry since 2007 and spend the better part of the last 3 years patiently waiting for market fundamentals to improve which we believe they have and should have some opportunities in the near future.

Spending money is not the same as having losses.

where I would tend to agree with the OP is I have seen folks use their IRA and not understand the actual costs of ownership and end up in a tough spot when they don't have enough reserves in the IRA  ( example they have 50k and spend 45k of the cash thinking 5k is enough reserves.) ..

I have about 25000 saved up and I'm living at home for free how much of that should I spend on a property or save.How does someone truly manage a property "effectively" from a distance?

I have about 25000 saved up and I'm living at home for free how much of that should I spend on a property or save.How does someone truly manage a property "effectively" from a distance? 

I would love to continue to flip houses but now having two little boys makes the "live-in" part a little difficult.Outside of real estate and taxes, I enjoy spending time with my family, whether at the beach or in the backyard, and sharing new experiences with my 2 sons. 

We got to spend one winter in the Abacos, and one in the Florida keys.

The "less" option would be to "just" fix things at around $20-30k then down the road spend about the same when its time to sell the house to make it look the best and not get the extra value that a bigger project would bring and not enjoy a nicer, fixed house until then

Every business looks at how they can increase what a customer spends.

I was broke, just wrote a $1600 check to get out of my lease, and had to spend the money to move across the country.