Flipping vs Renting Out

[Aleksei Furmenkov]

Hi everyone,

I am new to real estate investing, so might be asking some dummy questions. Hope to hear a piece of wise advice from mature investors.

The question is whether I should I invest into flipping properties and making higher ROI or invest in rental properties with a lower ROI but a steady cashflow? Let me describe my personal financial situation for more context.

Right now I don't have any properties yet. I'm 24 and have a steady positive cash flow from my active income (a full-time job). In particular, I am able to invest around 60-65% of my monthly income - I make around 10k USD per month and need 3500-4000 for comfortable living (I am a Russian citizen living in Serbia). So I am not sure whether I really need sources of passive income right now considering that I have a lot of energy that I can spend on investment strategies that require more efforts and energy. Also, when I say flipping properties I don't mean fixer-uppers in the US. At least within this question let's exclude the US market, taxes and laws since I am far from investing on that market. The UAE and Bali markets are open to Russian investors and I don't need any residence/work permits to invest there, so I am considering it right now.

If I were to answer my own question - I'd say focus on flipping properties while you're young since it will give you a higher ROI and capital gains. The closer you are to the retirement, the more you should focus on rental properties. I think it would also make sense to buy at least 1-2 rental properties a year from the very beginning so that these properties could act like some kind of a backup in case I lose my job for example etc.

Thanks!