There's a steady stream of military personnel always coming and going, and those that don't want to buy still want to find a nice place to live in for the 2-4 years they are stationed there.Good luck on getting started!

While all this is going on, you will need to be working this way you have steady income coming in.

Get some verifiable steady income.

As long as you can show a steady income they can calculate over the past 2 years, you should be okay. 

It is more of a slow and steady approach

This was the criteria I used (it's heavily based on the Best Ever Syndication Apartment book written by Joe Fairless):Criteria UnemploymentGet this information from Census.gov under the “Selected Economic Characteristics” data tableCalculate the unemployment change over a five-year period using the unemployment percentage for the city for the last five yearsIdeally, you want one that is decreasingA low, stagnant rate is acceptableA high and/or low increasing rate is unfavorablePopulationBoth the city and MSA population data can be found on Census.gov The city data will be under the “Annual Population Estimates” data tableThe MSA data is located in the “Annual Estimate of the Resident Population” data tableCalculate the population change for both the target market city and the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) using the population data for the last five years for the marketAn increasing population is idealA stagnant or decreasing trend is unfavorable, Especially if apartment supply is on the rise Population AgeFind this data on the Census.gov website under the “Demographic Characteristics” table.

I am hoping to buy places that will pay for themselves inside of 5 years and keep a steady stream of cash flowing.

Be careful with the companies that supply you leads and mentoring. 

You might check out office supplies stores for a pre-written lease and us that as a template.

With a steady full-time job, I think the time and flexibility would be more advantageous to real estate invest vs. more money.With time and flexibility you likely will be able to expand your real estate holdings fairly quickly.