We we would travel together and I loved every minute of it!    

Won't that defeat the purpose of being able to travel and pay less than hotel fees?

The primary goal is to work modestly for next 20 years and have an increasing income to travel the world and enjoy watching my  kids  build their own lives.   

In my area I'm required to do only a couple of specific items to keep the premises habitable. 

I have: talked to a real estate investor without getting any suggestions, talked to an investor who said that he will be out of town until after the auction and wished me the best, had a general contractor look at the property but all he said was that everything is fixable, talked to my financial advisor who said that because I also want to live there my self directed IRA can not help me, and lastly my loan officer said that the bank requires that the property be habitable ... it's a rehab without a kitchen.  

In West Texas, this is very common because many of the workforce travel from Houston or Dallas on a regular basis and renting a house is cheaper than staying in hotel rooms. 

Just watch the habits of truly rich people. 

Safe travels and thanks for your service. 

I work a 9-5 and make decent income but would like to generate more passive income to ultimately have more time to do the things I want to do, like traveling or spending time with my family.

To buy a property and have it actually be habitable you will spend considerably more than $500.