If you are a rehabber, with excess inventory of properties that need to be rehabbed, the issue is not where to deploy cash to hence tax certs may not be on the radar.

Deployments brought tax free, combat pay, hazardous duty pay, flight pay was added in, and we set that aside to purchase the next buy and hold.  

In my experience, when I paid for a mentorship program, I didn't really learn much more than I knew before starting, but I did get my butt in gear and actually deploy action to make my goals come to action.Additionally, the networking that takes place during these events is very valuable, if used correctly (or at all).

Great cashflow and pretty stable.Investing in a syndication as an LP might be good option as well..If you're going to deploy 500K on your own, you have to become very knowledgeable in RE first.

You may have to be open buying several units in more than one market in order to deploy all of your capital and avoid getting taxed. 

Would you rather have your money in hand to re-deploy it again?

How you invest will be different if you have capital vs. no capital to deploy.

My husband was deployed. 

I started looking September/October timeframe last year and I was deployed at the time but my wife was still here and so she was going out with the Realtor helping look and whatnot.

It's part of entering the game here.The second question is "can I make more money deploying my funds elsewhere, if I conserve cash using an FHA loan?"