real estate investing strategies near Fort Lee, Virginia

[Sung-Yong Kim]

I am currently in the military and I listened to BP podcast 23 and I really wanted to thank @jamesvermillion for the great information. I am due to come back for school at Fort Lee Virginia in the next few months. I started my research at Zillow.com and trulia.com and noticed that there are many properties for sale in Petersburg and Colonial Heights area, however I am wary of those areas as it is in a low income neighborhood and parts of the town is run-down. I have about 30k that I want to invest in real estate. My goal in investing in real estate is to purchase homes to collect rent to subsidize my income ~$500-$1000 a month. Being new to the real estate investing arena I had some specific question that I was wondering if BP could help answer.

1. What real estate strategy would best help me reach my goal, Buy-and-Hold, Flipping, Wholesaling, Notes/Liens etc?

2. Should I consider the low prices of the available homes for purchase in the shady neighborhoods? (conditions of these houses are low to fair)

3. Is it feasible to purchase turn-key properties with the amount of money I have saved for investing purposes?

4. What are your thoughts on purchasing a multi-family property, live in it during the duration of school and renting out the other halves?

5. Is 30k enough to get started or should I focus on saving more?

6. What other suggestions could you provide me that may help me get started on the right track?