I'm 27 now, and think I have a shot at retiring before 35 through real estate.

Saved me a lot of work!

@Andrew Johnson  I buy milliions of dollars in materials a year probably in the order of 10 million.. or more.. its such BS that these companies can save HUGE money doing it volume its all a pitch and the folks just don't know what they don't know they are drinking the cool aid.. :)  We get good pricing but you can't take a full 25 to 30k rehab and do it for 10k or 15k.. not possible. unless you simply don't do certain things..

I'm 24 years old and think I'll be self employed for the rest of my life and want to finally start preparing for retirement.

I retired from the job world in 2006 and am now looking to further build my legacy for my wife and family.

I'm monitoring CL always, even when I don't have anything to rent and sometimes even save some listing, copying them on my comp.

If it is to save a few bucks, let me tell you I would sleep better at night knowing that there is nothing coming at me from something someone else did or didn't do.

Older people in their retirement phase often love income streams, which you could provide.

Either way, I would be looking to have the rent at least cover the mortgage payments, allowing me to save up for my next buy and hold (of course after paying for taxes/insurance/ repairs etc.)

You should also have been and continually shopping local smaller banks and CU's working with their commercial lender on something that works, if you have some cash saved, a decent job/income, and a good credit score, you should be able to get fix and flip loans fairly easily from a small bank.