New Investor in Ohio looking for advice

[Stephen Callaway]

Hello everyone. My name is Stephen Callaway and I'm from a small town in Ohio. I am looking to get started investing in real estate hopefully by next summer! I have done plenty of research on this site and I am also a big fan of the Bigger Pockets podcast. The reason for my post is to seek advice on investing in my type of area. Sales are way down and houses are dirt cheap. The average rent in the area ranges from $550-$650 per month and your average home in the area I am looking to invest in range from $15,000-$50,000. Rental properties are sweeping my area as most people in the area rent and the seasoned guys are out there taking advantage. I wanted to go the route of flipping homes because of the potential profits and scalability which I believe is key in exponential growth. However, almost no family's are buying in my area, they are simply renting. So my question is whats the best way to acquire rentals with little capital and build a nice, big rental portfolio. I would like to have dozens if not hundreds of rental properties and along the way have enough income from those to find out of town deals in an area where it is a buyers market and begin flipping houses. So what is the best route to take to be able to acquire massive amounts of rentals from a financial standpoint. Some additional information: I am 21 years old, I want to start by next summer when I am 22 with $10,000 of my own money, my dad is in the business with 11 rentals of his own so I have experience with field work and dealing with the tenants. Any information would be useful guys and gals. Thank you for taking the time to read this and even if you provide a link to a similar thread, anything is appreciated. Happy investing!