What amount of money do you need to begin?

[Andrew Stouse]

I often see these forums flooded with people asking questions that they really don't need to ask, as their questions are very much personalized to their specific situation.

I will try my best to keep this as short and concise as possible for simplicity and not waste you all's time. 

I would like to invest in real estate by doing something similar to a live in flip just to get the ball rolling with my real estate investing. I have access to the VA loan from serving.

I spend hours listening to audiobooks, reading, browsing the forums, and getting my RL license so I can be as educated as possible, but my question is, how much money would I need to begin investing in real estate? My wife is about to go back to school so she will not be contributing income as well as she will be tacking on a lot more debt to her initial student loans. Obviously this is an investment as once she is finished with school she will make more money, but realistically we are looking at the next 4-5 years being pretty tight on cash from only me working and paying off the debt.

Is investing even feasible with low amounts of cash on hand? is it smart? Investing in real estate is truly my dream, but I have chosen to sacrifice/postpone my dream, so she can get hers. I just want to know if there's any way for both of us to be working towards what we want. 

Additionally, If any of you RE investors are in the Atlanta area, PM me! Id love to pick your brain and go into more detail about my situation.

Thank you all so much in advance for taking time out of YOUR day to help me :)

-Andrew