Real Estate as long term investment - looking for advice

[Anton Rachitskiy]

Hello fellow BP members,

It's my first post here, but was reading forums for quite a while. 

I have rough strategy defined for me, but it's still hard to see what my exact strategy should be, if you can advise I'll greatly appreciate it.

Background:

• Never bought a house
• 798 credit score
• Good tax report only starting from 2015 (was living in different country for quite a few years)
• Self-employed, therefore no W2
• Have $50k in cash right now
• Can (and want) to invest around $20k on a monthly basis
• Living in Cleveland, OH
• Stay at home wife and a small kid

Goals:

• Have long term investment
• Spend as less time as possible on each unit (use property management services and contractors)
• Do the most investment in the following 2 years (will be moving out of country after 2 years)

Ideas:

• Get single family home via cash (or loan since it's going to be a primary residence ?) in area where a lot of renters live, fix it up over summer and live ourselves there - rent it out after 2 years when we relocate 
• Build up a portfolio of multi or single family homes - what would be the best way to acquire them ? Loans or cash on foreclosed ones - use BRRR method ? Should I be looking at more expensive houses in better neighborhoods or just focus on multiple houses in average neighborhoods ( I don't want to try my luck in scary neighborhoods)

I know it's very vague, but that's exactly my state of mind right now ... just not sure what path I should follow and I really love having a well defined path, especially when it comes to managing money.

Thank You for the help