No need to buy each component stock of the S&P 500 yourself, when you can invest in an index fund that tracks it, give a small portion of the returns to the fund for their costs and profit margin, and reap the majority of the returns with little to no effort!

What areas of Atlanta are you defining as a war zone?

& @ Daniel Chang - Yes, there is a state income tax & local tax component as well.  

I found this community through the BiggerPockets podcast and learned this would be a great place to further my real estate education.My goals for real estate are not yet fully defined.

Define who you are, how much money you have, how much time you have and then start looking at the various investment strategies to figure out what will work best for you.

I need to define if i want to flip these or just hold them.  

@Piper Mullins in reading your fist post, you want to invest in less competitive areas : Please define what you think is a "less competitive area

@Justin Wiesehan The more you define your goals and get clarity... the quicker you will get the information you need.  

It depends on the title of the property if its residential with a live work component that is still finaceable but if its commercial in title its "commercial," and will not work atleast with 1-4 unit fha financing.You'd be subject to commercial financing parameters. 

As a person starting out, contributing to a company sponsored plan that has a matching component is key.