I recently decided that since I am fairly young and successful in my current career, that investing in real estate as a landlord on the side would enable excellent wealth-building potential down the road.

Just wanted to get a sense for how difficult it is to put some capital to work.Thanks for the time and consideration,Patrick

But like @Amanda G. stated, it can be difficult to pull a HELOC from an investment property.

Even not military(me) it is still very doable, but a little more difficult.

@Kevin Riven because in Phase 1 you can get decent deals and lending is plentiful, in Phase 2 the properties you own or will purchase are about to increase steadily in value, in Phase 3 the properties you own or are about to purchase might decrease steadily in value, and in Phase 4 the properties you wish you could purchase will be very difficult to acquire since lending is almost non-existent.

Slightly less passive but commercial management representation is not difficult to find. 

You will not get the tax break, but building a Roth portfolio early in your career can have a huge impact on the amount of after-tax money you will be able to draw from your retirement plan when you reach retirement age.You will likely change jobs somewhere down the line. 

I have enough income that saving the downpayments to do this annually would not be a problem, but...I have since moved to Portland, and it is very difficult to find a cash flowing 3-4 plex.

.#3 - Form conclusions from analysisThis is very difficult to do if you are not familiar with an area and it's market boundaries.Zillow and the like publish the sale prices of property.

When I was in 9th grade I took a career test to see what I wanted to do when I grew up.