LOL  I've seen LOT's go out of business here over the past twenty years... 

From my Richmond experiences in the last few years, you may want to live somewhere differently now, while you're still in your early twenties, than you would want to in a few years.  

I stumbled across Brandon Turner's blog "Real Estate Investing in Your Twenties".

With that disclaimer out of the way, I'll tell you that for the past twenty plus years, I've:1) Depreciated my rental properties, based on a 27.5 year depreciation schedule.2) Deducted fully the property taxes each year.

Holy cow, since when should a new investor plan for a twenty percent response rate?!?

I used to live not far from you (Norfolk) for a little while in my early twenties.

I'm twenty eight years old with a wife and two boys and I know real estate investing  can grant my family financial freedom and control. 

There is a a perfect property in my target area that is "on hold" for the first twenty day to investors.   

I like this adage (though you need to build on it perhaps): "The best time to invest in real estate is always twenty years ago" Heard it recently on The Real Estate Guys podcast, but they didn't coin the term.

The credits can be carried backwards on year and forward for twenty so, as an attorney with a good earned income, I can drastically increase my available money for further asset purchase for years to come.I have thought about the following potential downsides:(1) Holding for five years limits the exit strategy options.