Have you looked at where you are going to live with your family, and how much is the rent at those places vs the mortgage you are paying now, does the quality of life affect your family in a way that creates any strain? 

@Emeric Harney Ahhh, another of life's great mysteries has been solved!

I have been surrounded by rental properties my whole life - my Grandpa was a carpenter and over the last 50 years he has acquired 5 single family rental properties in addition to owning his own house.

I'm at the point in my life where I want to diversify my investments into real estate. 

I’ve purchased two personal homes in my life and that is about where my experience stops.

My parents got divorced when I was in the 5th grade but he kept me in his life and tried to be a regular father that made sure I did certain things like going to and graduating from college. 

GC was on the BP podcast and owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate.In and of itself, the book's not about real estate, it's more so about mindset and motivation, but it changed my life and it might change yours.Peter

You swap them out on a fairly regular basis either as preventative measure when they are nearing the end of their life, or as a restorative measure when they break.  

You don't say what type of investing you're interested in, so going on most downloaded episodes, I'd recommend Episode 200 - How to Buy Your First Investment Property, Episode 223 Set for Life with Scott Trench, Episode 221 - Rental Properties with Tim Shiner.More recent episodes are Episode 260 - Negotiation with Chris Voss, Episode 276 Early Retirement by Age 35 with Bryce Stewart and Episode 238 Becoming a Real Estate Millionaire and a Teacher's Salary with Michael Swann.

I spend 8 hours a day in a cubical, and I don't want this to be my life...A little about me:I just completed my MA in Music Business.I work full-time on a 50k/year salary at a music tech company.I was lucky enough to be able to save up 30k in cash.