I figured it was finally time to introduce myself, with a duplex deal hopefully on the horizon I will soon have tons of questions.Long term I would like to primarily invest in small multifamily properties for cash-flow and some long term single family rentals for the stability.

It may seem selfish, but retirement is a longer term horizon and I can help the kids find a combination of methods to go to school.  

The city is broke, it's citizens are broke, and there is no real hope on the horizon of a turnaround, despite moving a prison up there.

For me, when I got started it was a) access to cheap private capital (family & friends), b) a willingness to house hack and live with roommates, c) location in a city with a cheap real estate inventory, and d) a friend who was also investing and could help me with some contractor contacts.Yours will be different, for example maybe you know a certain area of the city very well and can recognize underpriced MLS properties, or you have the time to send out direct mail and take phone calls, or you have the temperament to knock on doors of potential sellers, or you are very handy and can save money on the rehab, or you have a very long-term investment horizon so you can buy in marginal areas, or you love networking and can convince someone to JV a deal... you get the idea.  

There is a huge storm on the horizon and it might take a year or two to get here but when it does, in my opinion, you won't have any income as a fresh agent.  

Originally posted by @William Kyle Walker: If one of those properties starts to become low in occupancy and can no longer service it's debt, ...If this is a short term problem with a solution on the horizon, sure. 

You can read about it here.https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/04/0...It sounds like a transition to civilian life may be on the horizon for you and, if that's the case, as a veteran, I encourage you to engage the counselors at the transition office and take advantage of all the resources they have available to assist you.

Monopoly taught us a valuable lesson we took for granted in terms of green and red houses and hotels, but the real key to the 'real' game is to change your perspective from being an earning employee to an entrepreneurial acquirer of assets - through your lifetime, and ideally, onto your heirs lifetime(s).Focus on asset accumulation, whatever the vehicle or vehicle(s), and you will see a vast horizon beyond your current 40k mental construct. 

That's a short (and risky) time horizon, especially given that we are at top (or close to) top of market.  

If major expenses are on the horizon, you want to allocate more.