Unusual Situation -- advice would be most appreciated

[N.A N.A]

hi,

I'm hoping someone here can provide some insights...I'm reluctant to divulge this information to just any "advisor" whom I don't know well (for reasons which will become readily apparent), so I thought posting it anonymously on the internet might be a good way to start.

I'm 40 years old, no debt or dependents, I have good credit, a temp job that pays $18/hour, and I inherited a little over $500,000 two years ago. The money is "parked" in CDs, etc. right now. I would like to get into real estate investing. I have no experience (other than selling my father's house) in real estate--I've been renting apts all my adult life. I've read "Real Estate Investing for Dummies" and "Mortgages 101", but those books seem to be geared more toward people who are struggling to make a downpayment, etc. -- they don't cover my situation. I was planning on buying a house or condo for myself first (price range 150K - 180K, approximately), and then buy one more condo or house to rent out as an investment, see how things go, and then possibly buy more. My problem is that I don't know how to come up with a "mortgage strategy", as it were. Obviously I can make a huge downpayment for both of the houses, or even just pay all cash for one of them, or I could try to borrow the maximum I can.

I don't know how to make a decision on this--I understand the different types of mortgages from the books and that I should make a downpayment of at least 20% to avoid PMI, but other than that, I'm lost.

One other thing I was wondering about--is there a school of thought in real estate investing on how much one should pay for one's own place of residence?

Thanks!