Serendipity at play I suppose that you responded. 

Playing it out, we retire, start taking distributions from the IRA, the property is paid off (or not), and all the income that's been accumulating over the years is sitting there -- still accumulating from rents coming in.  

I don't know the KC market, so I think that's where your expertise would come into play.

If you want to play appreciation with negative cash flow why not just buy in the Bay Area?

Congrats on graduation and welcome to the investing game!

This is my first option to get into the game.

So I have been playing around with the calculators lately, trying to analyze multiple deals per day and really start to try and get an understanding of everything.

The next step is just to play the numbers game to see which property I'll end up with.

I have looked at and analyzed several SMF deals in the west end (Waconia, Watertown, Delano, and the likes) and am continuing to do so, hoping to find something that my wife and I with our two kids could live in and still have a little room and somewhat of a yard for the kids to play in.

I've played around with different lease term lengths.