Investing in a Syndication or Investing in a House Hack

[Ying St.Cerny]

A bit of personal background. I am currently residing in southern NJ, just over the bridge of Philadelphia. I work a typical 9-5 corporate job. I am very new to real estate, just a couple of month. My rental apartment lease ends in June 2023 and debating if I should renew. I would like to get started by house hacking. However,in NJ and Philadelphia, on-market deals in the area that I have evaluated are mostly negatively cash flowing, and most deals that would be positive cash flowing would be off market, but would most likely need some renovations. In addition, these markets are not really preferred by areas to invest in by most investors. I thought about using an FHA loan, but that would wipe out all my cash saved, in addition to the potential risk listed above. I could park my money into a syndication and let it accumulate, while simultaneously investing in learning more about real estate on the side as an alternative to immediately jumping in. I am not in any financial distress or rush, but I would like to be smart and build a strong foundation in becoming a real estate investor. Any advice is greatly appreciated :)