I was looking at zillow and saw this house that was a complete wreck, I raised an eyebrow at how bad it looked and continued on with my analysis paralysis I have been in forever because I am a college student.

I was hoping never to sell, I guess:-) Well in that case you can't depreciate for ever either lol...

Fiance has very little desire to share space with tenants, so it looks like we'll be doing SFHs as opposed to multi-families (though I still have hope I can convince her to try it for the first property, but let's assume it's not going to happen).Tentative Plan:-Buy a SFH for $150,000-$200,000 in Phoenix area with a VA loan ($0 down), live in it for 2 years while aggressively forcing appreciation as much as possible, have one or more kids-Buy second SFH for $200,000-$250,000 in Phoenix area (upgrade reason: more space for kids) with another VA loan ($0 down) using remaining entitlement, rent out first SFH, live in this one for 1-2 years while aggressively forcing as much appreciation as possible-Buy third SFH for $200,000-$250,000 with an FHA loan (3.5-5% down), rent out second SFH, live in this one for 1-2 years, not going to try to force appreciation too much right away but instead will spend more time and money building equity in the first two houses-Refinance both VA loans into conventional loans once I have 25%+ equity in both, use the "one time restoration of entitlement" to free up all my entitlement again, rent out third SFH, buy permanent primary residence for as much as I can afford at the time (but not more than the VA maximum) with a VA loan ($0 down) for my now large family to live in forever-Aggressively force appreciation and build equity in third SFH until I can refinance that one into a conventional loan as well to get rid of PMI, then continue on from thereSo, my main concern is affording the second SFH without the necessary two years of landlording experience.

I went there though to make sure I could earn a great paycheck to fund my investments, not because I wanted to work forever for the corporate sector or for the man.

Im sure it'll be sunshine and unicorns forever in this market.

The impact of ever having rented your home stays with you forever, you can dilute the percentage by making your own stay longer but it will never go back to zero.

He does good work but he spends the money on your job on another and gets to far in and it takes him forever to recover. 

Then, using all of that cash flow towards the mortgage of your "forever home." 

Whether it is a hydrogen or helium filled ballon coming this way many people think the great economy will go on forever. 

@Andrew JohnsonFunny that I just went grab a drink with a friend last night... he bought a 44 unit in Phoenix for $2.5M....each unit rents $650, and 100% occupancy now...He told me his way of analysizing the deal was 1 unit pays for mortgage, 2 units pay for expenses, 4th unit would be his profit....I sat there thinking well that all sounds good when occupancy is at 100%....But it is not going to be 100% forever...To be, that is just another example of how stretched this market is....