My hope is that all of the personal and professional preparation will smooth the transition for my family.

For residential (2-4 units) and if it is a flip type deal you want to work with someone who can fund smoothly with little delays.

Now it's up to building and making it work so hopefully it all goes smooth. thanks for reaching out, looking forward to good business in the future

Perhaps I'm being unreasonable and I'm the one who's in the wrong here, I'd appreciate any feedback or similar experiences.Everyone keeps saying that the first investments usually end up being bad investments and you learn from mistakes, so I suppose this was bound to happen because a smooth sailing first buy is just too good to be true :)

But when I do transition out of teaching it will be smooth (I hope) and won't require a lifestyle change for my family.

Investing is not a smooth road and when the bumps hit the last thing you want is bad debt hanging over your head that can, and often will, bankrupt investors.

How did you make it a smooth transition?

Some of these things I have known about and have been dealing with,  a few of the others have just come to light this week, thanks to an angry ex-wife.I have done almost daily inspections, filed comply of vacate letters, sent text after text, and I'm just hoping for a smooth transition without having to evict.  

It's brown and reminds me of finer pieces of OSB board.It's smooth (no fake grain lines) and measures around 8.75inches, maybe a touch wider. 

If you're 2 years from retirement, you need the least risky thing possible, which would just be paying down that primary residence. 25 years from retirement, you've got some time and can take some risk, since any bumps in the road will smooth out over the long term.