Own home - rental or flip?

[Kristen Beahm]

Hi all! My name's Kristen, and I am a recent college graduate with not a lot of cash on hand but am interested in real estate investing. I am currently working on expanding my knowledge and starting with a place to live myself in the St. Louis area. I will be buying in the next month or so for my own residence with intention of it being an investment a year or two down the line. At my price point, I could either buy a condo needing some improvements which I'd then sell a year or two down the line (flip approach) or I could buy a single family home for myself, which a year or two down the line I would keep for cash flow (rental approach). Does anyone have advice for which approach a new beginner should take? Thank you, and happy Thursday to everyone! :) 

[Jerry Houk]

Hey kristen, it really depends on the money you have to work with. Both options are good and can be done each way with both. Buying something that needs work is the best bet so you can have more equity in the property when your done. Just do your homework on location location location and find the best deal in a good one and run budget numbers and comps in the area to figure how much profit you can turn. And in the end sale may be better than rent just on the first one at least to get some capital built up to fund the next ones. Good luck!