Flip vs Rentals

[Charlie Nghiem]

I am a newbie who has been reading and listening a lot, but no action yet. I am eager to get enough income to quit my job. I am really interested in doing flips first before purchasing rental property. I believe the profits from the flips would be a faster way to get enough cash on hand for down payments on rentals. My real estate agent believes rentals are solid investments and they are, but I barely have enough money to make the 20% down on any properties in my area. So I either branch out, which is scary when it is going to be my first deal. 30K of cash on hand. A flip with maybe a 6 month turnaround and I might be able to make 15-25K? Or purchase a rental and collect on the cash flow, maybe $400 /mo and get $4800 a year. Doesn't it seem logical to flip first?