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. 

Just playing devil's advocate and I'm a fan of living as close to work as humanly possible so you can bike/ walk. 

Cliff notes, after back and forth and me sending him pictures he started saying he was having a hard time with stuff and life and on and on.

:) To give you some background, I've lived in Western Washington most of my life, and Seattle proper for 14 or so years.

I lived in Johns Creek for 20yr of my life until I moved away for the military 6 years ago, but I visit frequently.