I have been inspired by my in-laws to get involved in real estate as they are successful and had the opportunity to retire earlier than most.

The idea was to work another couple years and then "retire" to be a landlord to escape the office.

Seller is a good friend looking to retire that never took a deposit from them nor did he take care of the units.

I asked why seller is selling, he said because he wants to retire, get out of the rat race. 

You can still tap into this as long as you have 2 years living there of the 5 years before sale and it's considered a primary residence.When I worked for the Navy at a Joint Base, I met a lot of military guys who used their accumulation of houses all over the country as their second retirement pension.

I am a semi retired engineer and my wife works full-time as a systems analyst for a large communications company.  

As long as the tenants pay the mortgage then hold it for 30 years and then count it as your retirement or sell it in a few years if the market keeps going up. 

My main area of focus is “buy and hold” and my goal is to acquire 2 more properties in 2017 and own 1 property free and clear in the next 3-5 years.I will have the opportunity to retire from my current job in 5 years. 

If your objective were to generate steady cash flow for retirement you would look at very different opportunities from someone who wanted to earn 3x their money in a year.  

I am interested in real estate investing as an income supplement and retirement tool for the future.