@Paul Ewing - I really appreciate the fact that you know the road warrior lifestyle.

What lifestyle changes can you make that will allow you to save enough to put a down payment on one of the houses you bought on paper?  

We offer many dishes in both small and large portions and are dedicated to developing menu options that address ever-evolving consumer lifestyles — be it meatless, organic or whole grain items — and work with quality-focused partners like Creekstone Farms."

When you identify this this should point you in a direction of what style of REI works best with your lifestyle you currently have. 

the 2nd association it resonates is the highly consumption-driven society we live in. in my area (coastal, urban southern california) i'm surrounded by 2 distinct lifestyles. there's the majority: seems like 95% of the local population who are renters, driving luxury cars, sporting fancy clothes, jewelry, hairdos, etc but obviously living paycheck to paycheck as exemplified by hardly a day somebody or the other is spotted  getting their car repo'ed by a camera crew. the rarer are the landlords, who in this area seem to be of mostly asian demographics (chinese, koreans, japanese) who live obviously very frugally: old 80s model sedan, oldfashion business cloths, always eating simple meal from home, seemingly never splurging $$$ other than into expanding their portfolio), my observance is relatively very few landlords in the area own relatively huge portfolios, each.with the advent of these infomercials and the internet (ie, BP) more and more people want to get a 'piece of the REI pie' and more power to them. there does seem to be this dream of rags to riches and while its ok to dream, do most people actually expect their life to turn around like that, as portrayed in most of the infomercials or even in the everyday setting where the masses living paycheck to paycheck, are spending their last expendable dollars not on depositing into savings acount, but blowing $20 on scratchies etc. in summary, is my observation reminds me of my days when i worked on wall st and the 'ra trace' was so obvious with dime a dozen stock brokers makin 6fig salaries at some point but blowing it on recreational drugs apparently costing thousands of dollars a pop to the point the next week they are broke again and that $ wasnt invested but wasted.  

Testing something (viewpoint, lifestyle, etc.) takes months to years.

We completely renovated it and I can’t imagine living anywhere else.It was one of the best financial and lifestyle decisions I’ve ever made.Renting is almost always better, when you consider every aspect.

I strongly suspect that your household doesn't like to compromise on lifestyle (don't take that personally, it is very common and I have been guilty of it too).  

I have started to apply by philosophy of physical training to my real estate goals.'You have to move a big pile of dirt.  Sometimes you have a shovel, sometimes a spoon.  But everyday move some dirt.'  -John WelbournI...

I listen to podcasts from Bigger Pockets all day on my full time job and have finally reached the point in life where I know I want to invest in real estate and create a better financial outcome and lifestyle for myself and my family.Currently I've partnered with a few other newbies in hopes of wholesaling some properties as well as holding.