Needing Guidance and Suggestions

[Andrew B.]

Hey guys, my name is Andrew and I am brand spanking new to this whole real estate investing world. 

Here is my situation:

I started a landscaping/ lawn care business 7 years ago and just sold it because me and my wife want to move to Jacksonville Florida with our kids. We currently live in Franklin, TN. I also sold the business because I have loved building a business but want to apply what I have learned to something else. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I want to do next and I keep coming back to the idea of either doing home flips, long term rentals, short term rentals, or a combination of them. Other than landscaping, my other main set of skills is in home repair and improvement. 

When it is all said and done, when we sell our house, and take the money from the business sale and what we already have in investments, we will have somewhere between 1.3 and 1.6 million dollars in cash. 

The rough plan in my head has been to move to Jacksonville and buy a house between 400k-500k with cash so we don’t have a mortgage. Then find a job that I can work so we don’t start burning through our cash, and with the remaining cash we have, start to acquire a couple rental properties and maybe try to do 1-2 house flips a year. Even though we will have a significant amount of cash to invest, I know I can’t just start throwing money at real estate investments without a plan, expecting to succeed. I don’t want to take on too much too fast, but I also don’t want to approach it too timidly. I have even wondered if maybe instead of buying our house with cash, financing at least maybe half of it so that I have an extra 200k to invest. 

Again, guys, I am so ignorant with most of this stuff so maybe what should be obvious to me, is not. But I want to learn. I just need to find a starting point and a plan.

Any input is appreciated.

[Rick Pozos]

Hey @Andrew B. I know it seems like everyone is flipping houses and making tons of money. I am sure that your landscaping business was not easy. Real Estate is not either. 

Personally, I would do what you do best. Start another landscaping business since you have already done this. Get some cash flow from that. THEN start to look into real estate when you have cash in the bank AND cash flow every month. Seems the safer route. Just my .02c