As we were trading stories he tells me he's building a house and I tell him about how we want to buy a rental but finding the right lender was a challenge.

It is eye-wateringly expensive for most stocks and that's all in the face of a massive trade war our country is waging with the rest of the world.

We know every professional/service provider/trade you could possibly need related to real estate!!

Was hoping to be pointed in the right direction as to what to do when first starting out as a signing agent and some best kept secrets of the trade!

I also don't want to put the cart before the horse as we made pretty good purchases  to begin with and I don't want to just trade apples for apples. 

"Conventional wisdom", modern portfolio theory, and the typical asset allocation of high net worth individuals shows a balance between real estate, publicly traded stocks, private equity, and cash/fixed income.

I’ve watched countless videos and have considered many possible streams of income from day trading, to owning a gumball machine. 

Every good trades person right now has all the work they'd ever want and prices reflect that.

(I'm an electrician by trade).

Good luck.BTW, I traded messages with a couple of other people who are or were in the Navy and are in the SD, CA or HI area.