I'm fairly new to this frugality game, but I currently own a duplex. I live in one side and rent out the other. Despite a few setbacks due to deferred maintenance from the previous owner, its been pretty awesome. The tenants are great, the area is great, and I'm able to live super cheaply. I don't want to jinx myself, but I'm pretty high on the whole real estate idea, and I'd like to buy another place and build my "empire".
My issue is that I'm youngish (29), and rather than save the money I was not spending on rent/expensive mortgages, I was buying pickup trucks (two different Toyota Tacomas), BMWs (...yea two of them), motorcycles (3 different sportbikes) and carbon fiber mountain bikes (gotta have a full suspension bike to go with my hardtail!). When I total up the money I've wasted over the past several years that I've been working, it almost makes me sick to my stomach. My savings reflect my wastefulness: I've only got 65k in pretax 401ks, another 5k in a Roth IRA, and about 15k in cash savings.
The bright side is that I'm back on track though, and I make a solid income for my area - just over $83k per year before taxes. I'm saving about $1000-1500/month after my 401k contributions, so by June, I'll have another ~5k I can put down on a rental house. The plan is to start looking for a house that can cashflow SOMETHING with a 3.5% FHA downpayment, buy it by June, live in it for a year, then rent it out. I've run the numbers and I think it can work if I get a good deal. If I can't find a good deal, I'll just sit tight and save for a while longer.
So with all that information, what do you guys and gals think? AM I jumping the gun? I feel like I'm deviating from mustachianism, but I'd like to get some properties purchased while I'm young and have free time.