He wants to put his $200k profit down on a huge fancy home (to make his wife happy, I’m sure) and pay a mortgage while working a 9-5 the rest of his life.

They also prefer that you remain in the NACA purchased home for the life of the loan.

Which is a shame in itself, but everyone had a different situation in life. 

It has been life changing for me, now I have enough equity to invest and almost ready to make my first investment purchase.

Trying to find Rockstar agents, lenders, contractors, and property managers to get my invest life off the ground.

that is awesome mate getting into the game this early in life is an adventage on its own mate. to help answer your questions?

I've been interested in real estate investing for several years, but didn't want to take the leap until life had settled down a bit (getting married, transitioning out of the Marine Corps, etc).

Having lived in NJ for my entire life beforehand, sinkholes just weren't a problem and not something that people really ever had to think about. 

It really depends on your comfort level and what's going on in your life. 

With my current lifestyle I don't know if I could go back to BRRR / house hacking . . . so it's all about your own personal goals and life situation.If it helps, I had no rehab experience going into my first project.