Ask your wife if she can or would want to get involved in RE, she can probably take care of anything with you being gone.90% of those that begin in RE as a full time job fail within 3 years, all had the dream, had the right attitude, had sufficient intelligence and had confidence when they started.

I have character, pride, integrity, honor, ability, talent, passion, creativity, intelligence, wisdom, code, and as a 44 year old man and father of two young children, I still have some energy and tricks up my sleeve.  

In other words, despite how financially intelligent this scenario can be, ONE WRONG MOVE and suddenly it would've been cheaper for you to rent a 4 bedroom colonial in the nicest neighborhood in town by yourself.  

We rented the property for $500 when we first bought it.Ben is a great guy, an intelligent guy, an arrogant guy. 

I read Benjamin Graham' (Warren Buffet's mentor) book, The Intelligent Investor, and it's amazing how the principles are applicable to anything including real estate. 

I know so many bright and intelligent men who are in this business who are frozen with fear and inaction.

We've got some capital but my husbands school loans total roughly half of it so we are trying to go about this intelligently to maximize our potential for long-term success.

--but any intelligent seller will see it for what it is and not be interested.

I'm ready to move on this and look forward to attending my first sheriff sale, but I want to ensure I have enough information to intelligently compete and also not make any obvious/newbie mistakes.

This simple question, and the conversation that followed, made me realize a few things. 1.Not everyone is up for taking risks. 2.Not everyone, no matter their corporate background or how intelligent they are, is cut out to own and/or run a business. 3.Some people seem to be looking for validation of why NOT to pursue their ideas or passions. 4.Some people are perpetual students and never make the leap from knowledge to application.