My plans have been to buy a multi family here in San Diego house hack but with the market being highly priced in SD my tenant would really only cover 50% of my mortgage but still allowing me to save money for my next investment and ultimately move out and rent out the entire multi family home or my other plan is to buy out of state, cheaper market, less money to get in and start to get cash flow from that property before purchasing in San Diego.

We've filed a "crime stoppers" report so if we need to get law enforcement involved we can go that route. 

Once you have tenants placed you have nothing to do really.Also, until the rental income is aged 2 years most banks won't accept it as income.Now, just save you job income and put it towards the next purchase.

I am itching to get into rental properties, but know I need to do some research and saving before I can make that initial investment. having graduated from grad school last year, I have a lot of student loan debt.

I laugh when I look back and realize what my first goals were:1) Buy a new car with cash- 15,000 value2) Pay for a semester of college tuition- 24,000 value3) World Class European Graduation Vacation- 18,000 value. 4) Save 15,000. 

My girlfriend's parents have been doing live-in flips for the past 10 years, and that exposed me to how profitable a little extra work can be.After another year or so of saving up money for a down payment, I plan on buying a house to fix and flip over the course of a couple years.

I feel the loss of earnest money is a cost that will save me many thousands of dollars in vacancies/repairs etc of a bad investment.My goals:I would like to replace my current income stream in the next 2-3 years.

Bought a single family home that I was intending to rent out, but have since decided to move into it myself to save myself the commute I currently make from Bloomington.

I am currently house-hacking my first property and saving up/learning as much as I can to take on my next investment property.

Perhaps you can work past August and save up enough cash to fund your first flip before retiring.