CRE vs Residential & Leveraging Skills (23yo)

[Griffin Hess]

Hello BP Community,

I'm seeking some seasoned advice on starting in RE investing.

Context: I'm an underwriter at one of the world's largest commercial insurance firms, specializing in commercial property insurance underwriting. I graduated college last year and I'm starting to build my career toolkit (while paying down just shy of $15K in student loans). I currently live in the metro ATL area, but have history and ties in Charlotte and Chapel Hill (Both NC).

For work, we focus on logistics, senior care, and manufacturing. We utilize an engineering department and do a LOT of analysis to ensure our insureds are adequately protected while also pleasing our broker(s).

I studied finance in college and would confidently say I'm ahead of the curve in equity investing (stocks). However, this is not the case with real estate. Luckily, I am actively researching the ins and outs of REITs and PE real estate deals (both of which I encounter often with work).

Main Point: I would like to get into real estate investing, but I don't know if I should utilize my career CRE learning and enter that space first, or start smaller with residential. CRE has much larger hoops to jump through, but I feel more confident talking to others about the basics of commercial real estate. Also, I have no experience in trades or homebuilding, both of which (in hindsight) would have been nice to work on.

Any general or anecdotal advice would be much appreciated. Also, any comments about taking the homebuilder vs investor route would be super helpful. Thank y'all!