If you are looking to invest into real estate, I have found this site to be incredibly helpful.There are a few self-contained guides that you can access here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guidesAlerts can be really helpful too: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts

I have zero regrets of my decision.Below are some of the reasons that I made my decision.1) I purchased my property for 10% below FMV(appraisal vs purchase price).That means any penalties that I paid was made up for already on the purchase2) I don't like that my money was tied up and felt restricted until a certain age.3) I believed my appreciation / cash flow from real estate would be greater than the return in a retirement account(Not self-directed)4) Real estate investments can provide some tax benefits so you can still think of it as a 'tax-sheltered account'Best of luck!

Jay, I'm in same position, I'm considered 1099 ( self employed).   $$ in the bank, but taxes won't support income.. lol. 

The underlying dream is based on the fact that we both are both burnt out from making our employers very wealthy, and want to become self-employed and to achieve financial freedom.

On what planet would any self respecting REI ever accept that as an annual return? 

He is my employer, and is self-employed in a similar situation.

I've been self-employed for the past year and my income has been good, but I don't have a history of income for previous years.

We self renovated the home, took a year and about 30k of our own money. 

Ive been a long time browse and listener of this forum and have been looking to enger the market for a while now but the opportunity never showed its self untill now.

Something else that concerns me is that I am self-employed, and new to it as well, so I fear I most likely will not be able to qualify for traditional financing to buy properties.