Thrilled to have found you for so many reasons. 

I'm thrilled you are looking ahead, past grad school, and into the your financial future beyond a W2 salary.  

Buying for appreciation is not "investing", it's speculation (read: gambling).

Plus my wife was not thrilled with my plan.Good luck and maybe one day we may meet in the neighborhoods of Colorado.

While that is technically true we have invested money in something, I doubt that would meet most investors definition of an investment.To me an investment generates positive cash flow...that's it (I recognize that others would consider this too narrow a definition, but for me, that is what I care about.)These properties won't cash flow, they are purely an appreciation play and that is closer to gambling than investing...to me.

It's a gamble.

REI is just like Poker. ..not because I think of it as gambling.  

Any of them will help you buy in their town, and will be thrilled to be able to help you.You can go to Realtor dot com and put in the name of any town and get a look at many of the property listings.You can look on Craigslist for any large city and see photos and desriptions of what is for sale and the price.All real estate agents in the USA have to be licensed.

The CPAs and attorneys will be thrilled.  

We are absolutely thrilled for the opportunity to celebrate with all of you, so please feel free to invite all your Real Estate friends for an evening of drinks and snacks!