And ultimately, I believe that success is generating enough income to fund your lifestyle, whether it be a teacher, engineer, financial advisor or a real estate agent, and never, ever being pigeon holed into missing precious moments in this short life.   

It's given me a life and lifestyle that I never thought I could achieve when I was in the corporate world and I'm certain that I have greater wealth than the people that ran the company that I used to be employed by.What's different about the paper business today is that, in addition to understanding title and the collateral, serving and collection practices are much more of an issue, particularly in states where legislation has been enacted to advocate for the slow or non-paying borrower.This doesn't mean you can't service your own loans, however in addition to the title and collateral aspects, there's a learning curve that may not be be worth the trouble to a novice note investor.Despite owning several large note portfolios myself, I decided a while ago that I'd only invest in non-performing bank paper as a partner.

I would love to fully immerse myself in the real estate investment lifestyle and begin working for experience rather than a simple paycheck.

Then tonight I read this:http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/30/cities-affordable-home-lifestyle-real-estate-affordable-cities.htmlTo the original poster of this thread, the good news is, you're already surrounded by opportunity in Dallas and that area.

Its funny you say that, Tampa is crazy busy for us... actually looking to move to SC for a little slower paced lifestyle.... glad to hear there is still plenty of opportunityWhat is your day job if you dont mind me asking?

Unless you talk about 2% addon for 15y additional term, the shorter loan deprives you of a cheap option to finance at historically low rates.You take loan either to afford more property ot to enhance returns.If investment has higher irr than the mortgage rate, take the longer loan.

You may just be wasting  your time thinking about what to do....most students fall out for many reasons because it requires them to make changes to  their lifestyle and some never can make the change....my suggestion move on and work with the students who are doing something....good luck

And you in the peanut gallery- I know, there are interest-only mortgages, but most investors don't use them.)So in summary, and apologies for the extremely long post, I just got rolling and couldn't help myself, real estate enhances the best in investors by inhibiting panic selling during kerfuffles of one sort or another, and suppresses the worst in us, which is our unwillingness to save money on a regular basis.

In the process, you become a nomad, moving from house to house every year, but leaving a growing rental empire in your wake.And during each year, you can dump the money which you save by legally avoiding excessive down payments and high investor interest rates, into rent-enhancing improvements to your current primary residence.Request to other BP Members : Please correct me if I am overstating the legality of using the Nomad Strategy in Central Florida.  

My passion and specialty is helping people live a Silicon Valley lifestyle without bearing the full costs of Silicon Valley home ownership.