I had planned to also leave a physical key in a lockbox, as a last resort, to be a step ahead of technical issues that will inevitably occur.Thanks again!

Anything I should be aware of or plan ahead of?

You are correct that you won't be able to tap that property any time soon for equity, but you will be getting into a property months (maybe years) ahead of what you be able to do with 20% down.

Go ahead and have one of them, PLACE ALL of your properties in a Land Trust.

I am eager to begin building my portfolio with a focus on long term hold duplexes to start, but I want to make sure I am not getting too far ahead of myself too quickly. 

Others do great with it but it's not for me so you will have to decide at what level of involvement do you want to have in real estate.If you want to go Section 8, I would go ahead and contact them for information.

I've been perusing BP/podcasts/blogs for a few weeks now and figured I should go ahead and introduce myself!

Planning ahead is great, but you really need to gain some familiarity with a market/area before jumping in.

Teo W. since this is your first I would go ahead and put 20% down.

Not only can you do it while on active duty, but you will be a big step ahead of the game if you get started before your military retirement!