Want to finally get started! Living in Baltimore, from Memphis.

[Nick Holmes]

Good afternoon,

Long time lurker and podcast listener. Grew up in Memphis, TN, graduated from University of Memphis, then joined the Marine Corps. I did 12 years, got out last year, and started a defense consulting firm. I've been at it fully remote for nearly two years and I absolutely love it. But I'd also like to get into RE to leverage our current income to set up future wealth and (mostly) passive cash flow via LTRs on SFH/MFH/maybe some commercial. Not interested in doing the manual labor side or being a property manager (I'm "old" and arthritic and 100% P&T disabled thanks to the ole Corps!), but I do have 830+ credit, cash, solid income, and no debt save for a new vehicle that I can very easily afford.

We do need to buy our primary residence in April/May 2025. For that, open to a house hack. Since we don't have our primary yet, I feel like it doesn't make a ton of sense to get into buying rental properties and potentially hurting my own mortgage loan application. I do plan on using my VA loan.

I guess I'm just looking to reach out and interact with folks in the Baltimore and Memphis areas both. I'm leaning more towards investing in Memphis since I lived there for 24 years and have tons of family and connections in the city, but of course I'm open to Baltimore, too. I'm just newer here and can't speak to the nuances of certain areas as well as I could for Memphis. I will say: they're very similar cities in a lot of ways, but I'm not scared of it.

Please feel free to reach out, tell me I'm dumb, make a joke about Marines eating crayons - I'm here for it!

Nick