I'm intend on using them to supplement my retirement, diversify my investments, and as reserves.

I'm hoping real estate sales can be a viable supplement for my current income.I work part-time as a lab tech for a small cosmetics R&D lab in NJ, and have a little soap crafting business on the side.

I love my job, so I'm not trying to quit, my motivation is to supplement retirement and to have more to contribute to church work.  

But I am even more excited to reach my goals.I am hoping to close my first house hacking deal in the Spring of 2017.I currently work full time as a Client Services Account Manager for a Health Insurance company.I enjoy the security and responsibility of my FT job but I also look forward to accomplishing my goals of supplementing my income, setting up a long term “retirement” plan, creating a legacy and ownership for my children and the overall accomplishment of OWNERSHIP.I look forward to using REI as a vehicle to get there.I am very excited to “learn the ropes” and hopefully partner with other seasoned investors in an effort to grow in the business.My initial goal is to establish about $500/month from income properties and to accumulate $100K in cash to start, within the next 2 years.Lofty but doable…I would like to use the “buy, rehab, rent and refinance” as my primary strategy.I would also like to identify a mix of wholesale and fix and flip deals along the way.I have been looking through the forums and posting some questions myself and I would just like to say thank you to everyone!

I have a 9-5 "day job" but am looking at real estate investment as a means to establish supplemental income to first build a solid financial foundation for my wife and I before we start a family, and second to build long-term, generational wealth that I build throughout my lifetime.I'm not needing real estate to be my primary source of income or a means of quick cash.

Do you have another source of income you could use to supplement the money you get out of that deal? 

Here is a list of things that I believe could give me a competitive edge over the outrageous competition in Colorado:Advantages:I would be an owner-occupier (I need somewhere to live and wouldn't mind a place that needs some work)740 credit score$60k+ desk jobExperience with home repair/woodworking for renovationsI would like roommates as a supplemental incomeDebt freeLimitations:Fresh out of school so not much for a down paymentI would like a place with a garage to do my woodworkingI would GREATLY appreciate some feedback on how to use any/all of my advantages to get my foot in the door of real estate investing!

Your GF would be supplementing her sister's boyfriend's cousin to the tune of $9600/yr.

My main focus with real estate investment is to supplement my income with rental income so I will be able to quite my job and work for my self(and maybe stay in Charlotte long enough to enjoy the city :)  In the future I want to get into wholesale and commercial real estate.I'm currently in the process of buying my 1st investment property and I'm finding out I don't know as much as I thought and I'm in the process of learning now and will continue to learn and absorb all the information on here. 

The property tax increase (loss of standard/supplemental deductions) will hurt but I factored that into my numbers already.