Many people before us have used RE to escape the "rat race".

if you are smelling the stench you can rest assure that you are dealing with gutter rats.

They are going to call and say there is a bedbug infestation, rats everywhere, no hot water, holes in the floor, the door won't lock, leaking roof, and the tub is cracked, oh, and the landlord refuses to fix all this.

That's about all I need to be satisfied: just giving a rat's behind. :) I've had plenty of terrible landlords in the past and a couple of good ones.

Personal stuff - I love spending as much time as possible with my 5 yr old daughter and the rest of my family, I love fitness (generally work out at least 5x a week), and I've recently developed (better late than never) a passion for real estate investing as a means of 'getting out of the rat race' as well as acquiring knowledge in general in order to better myself and share that knowledge to help others.I haven't uploaded my Pro video yet, but I plan to as soon as I get a moment so my BP peers can get a better feel (beyond the photo) for who I am. 

Hey Marcus,I have two rental properties in New London and I am trying to sell my first flip in North Stonington.Let me know if you have any questions and I can try to help you out,Mat

Thanks Mat 

However, I've quickly realized this rat race that I'm in to trade hours for dollars which is not how I want to live the rest of my life.

My full time job is what allows me to afford investing, but my end game is buy and hold multi families to provide myself passive income "get out of the rat race."

The Great Recession changed all that and I was forced into the rat race which was never a place I ever felt I belonged.