You've bought your current TWO units and have rode the appreciation wave up to where you have  NOW ($500K) a nice equity gain, etc.) ....however IF this market corrects and depending on how severe the downturn is some of that equity will evaporate.  

This may look good considering what the banks are paying; and2) help him avoid capital gains onthee 95 K.

I should be able to  sell it at a gain.

For me, the key to my success has been or is still, networking and gaining the trust of ACTIVE investors to work with, share information with.

For me, the key to my success has been or is still, networking and gaining the trust of ACTIVE investors to work with, share information with.

Don't invest more than you can gain back in rent for that area.

I'll check out the site and weight my options.

I am a finance professional and my goals in the first 12-18 months are to educate myself in this field and gain the confidence to get into buy and hold residential real estate investing-- at least that is what I think I should be doing (for now). 

Relating to people is critical to gaining trust.

When you gain some equity, you can refinance the VA loan into a conventional and go purchase a new owner occupied property using you VA benefit.