First time investor and which markets

[Michael Delgado]

Hey all,

I am looking for some advice as to what to do. We are looking to start our real estate journey and hopefully own enough doors to retire early. Me and my wife are 41 and have access to roughly 500k in assets such as stocks that we would like to shift towards our housing journey. We both are teachers in NYC so even if we retire early we will have a decent pension as part of our income. My question is... where would you begin? We would love to be in driving distance for our first property but realize that anything drivable from NYC isn't the best ROI. Is there a market that anyone suggests for growth and or decent roi not in the NYC area? I see people mention areas of Ohio, Texas, and Florida. Also, would you do single family homes or multi?

I have been a long time lurker and love the wealth of info you all provide and finally looking to jump into it.

Thanks a bunch,

Mike