Starting out -- right direction?

[Andrew Badera]

Hi all-

In the next 6-12 months, I'm looking at investing in real estate. I'm thinking of looking for a 2-unit home in need of rehab, rehab'g one unit while living in my current apartment, moving in and rehab'g unit #2. Rent unit #2 after completion, while I look for a single family home to rehab and eventually move into, then rent unit #1 as well. Go from there, hopefully acquiring more SFHs and maybe more multi-family homes, and maybe eventually getting into commercial stuff.

I don't have a lot of rehab skills, nor time to be doing a lot of work, as my regular work keeps me busy. My dad has some skills, but no time either. In the end, I'm probably going to end up paying someone else to do a lot of the rehab work. I know a few people in that line of work, but I certainly expect this to be a large part of my costs.

I'm in the Albany, NY area. I'd like to target young professional and young/small family tenants, but I'm open to college students as well (we have a lot of colleges around here). Obviously I understand I can't pick my tenants, but I'm talking in terms of picking my neighborhoods and properties, and setting rent.

Does this sound like the right direction to be headed in? Thanks in advance!