I have cash, how do I start?

[Julian L.]

I've been back and forth for about a month now on what to do... 

I'm 31 and rent in Venice, CA; one of the most expensive areas in LA. I'd like to buy and hold and build a portfolio of passive income. How do I do that? 

I have $125k in mutual funds, $70k in retirement and another $30k in cash and excellent credit. I've been approved for a $750k mortgage. My plan would be to use the $125k I have sitting in mutual funds to use for a down payment on something. 

Invest local: Condo's in LA go for $500k in my neighborhood... not super nice condos either. This makes finding cash flowing properties in LA few and far between. With the traffic in this town, everything that I could afford would be an 1hr+ commute each way, which I don't want to do.

Invest long distance: I am familiar with my small town's real estate market. The real estate is inexpensive and it's a college town so it's usually always rented. I have purchased property there before while I was in college and have a good relationship with a property management company there, that would be able to help me manage the property long distance. 

If you had $100k in cash to invest and lived in a expensive real estate market, what would you do?

[Elizabeth Colegrove]

That question is highly dependent on the person. As a long distance landlord who has a great W2 income and LOVE leverage I would buy in the small town and self-manage. I would buy a portfolio that allows me to highly leverage my cash. I would also think about buy a place in the area you live now and house hack. We rented hack we were young and it made sense. This would allow you to have someone else pay your mortgage and getting your feet with the lower entry requirements of a personal property.