I've definitely seen some people lose their shirts investing out of state. 

I close on a shirt term rental on Lake Superior at the end of July that I will also be using occasionally as well.

If you have an exemption like a first time home purchase to skip the 10% penalty, that could be an option, but as others stated, why not use your real estate license and contractors license to build some additional income streams while continuing to save and use those funds along with learning creative financing strategies to acquire cash producing assets like teal estate.Have a goal, build a sound plan to reach that goal with the help of a trusted financial advisor or CPA and get going on that path.

Overall they can be a lot more lucrative but they also are a lot more work and you need to do your homework so you don't lose your shirt! 

She is seriously on top of her game when it comes to taking care of the two children we raised and both children are currently in college to get Phd's for math and the other for some sort of manufacturing of drugs )or something).Say what you want about being a gold digger, but we live in a commercial building on concrete floors with zero furniture with the exception of mattresses and when she shops for clothing she does buy some Guess clothing, but she is super frugal and loves to purchase shirts and items for as little as $3.Well, based on her t-shirts, she obviously loves America and also loves the Dodgers. 

my sales manager was really big with life coaches and motivational speakers like Tony Robbins as well as finance "gurus" like T Harv Egger and Robert Kiyosaki.  

So that's my 2 cents, the competition is down - but who knows if you'll lose your shirt if you DO get the house but the market tanks. 

I had like 3 shirts growing up so I would wear the same clothes twice a week.

One day one of the adult children came over, opened up the garage door, retrieved a shirt on a hanger, closed the garage door, and got back in her car and drove off.The father had moved out of the house and dropped by one day to tell us his now ex-wife and the rest of his family had drug issues, were detached from reality, and couldn't accept the fact that the house was sold and they had to move on.

Being there, done that, got the tee-shirt and GOT NO deals from it because you need volume to really make a dent and stand out from the other wholesalers and real estate agents hitting a particular area.