Strategy Help Needed

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This may be a long post & will apologize in advance for that but think its important to understand what I am trying to accomplish (goals) and what I have to work with (assets, experience, etc) to achieve these goals.

About myself, I am a career car guy with 20 plus years management experience with low 6 figure income. Prior to getting in the car biz 26 or so years ago, straight out of high school I was bent on getting in real estate. I had no skills, no money, and no clue. I did, however, get a Realtor's license in VA (long expired), and also had a contractor's license. I don't think I ever sold a house (who would buy a house from an 18 year old kid, especially a dumb one), but I did list a few. I did much more with the contractors license, mostly working with Realtors on their investment properties & flips back then. I decided somewhere along the way to get in the car business & its worked for me, but to go next-level, I have to have a very different strategy (next level is being in business for myself, requiring more net worth than is possible making and spending 100K income).

I had moved away a couple years back to reduce my commute & hated it, so a year or so ago, I moved back to my hometown & rented a condo.  I have been looking for a house that I want to buy for me personally but really haven't had anything that suited me without needed some work (or having to pay an exorbitant price), and came to the conclusion that this problem actually may be the solution to my problem....

Fast forward to now.  I have concluded that I have four basic goals:

1)  Obviously, I really should buy a house & stop paying rent.  This one is easy, but need advice on 2 & 3 

2)  Significant mid to long term growth of net worth

3)  Short term income would be a plus.  

4)  Tax reduction/avoidance.  

Here is where I need advice from savvy investors.  I am not totally risk averse (I'm a car guy, after all), and had intended to buy distressed properties, rehab them, & take the profit.  In reading, long term looks like the smart money is to just buy & hold, but I am looking for a jumping off point.  As for short term income needs, I don't suppose I really have any.  My significant other & I like to travel, & our travel expenditures can pinch a budget and some extra cash, whether once in a while on a flip or every month from rental income, would be great, although I really don't want for anything the way things are.  

I'm looking for a strategy that works for all 4 of the above goals.  I'm not sure if that means I need to buy & hold, flip for a profit, or a combination of all of the above.

As for the mechanism to make this work, I have some level of mentorship from a colleague.  She has been flipping houses, & has done a dozen or so over the last few years.  She has made 100k or so this year on two properties (one home run & one not so much), and in my assessment, has done pretty well.  She is arranging for me to meet with her banker (hard money loans from local bank), but I am looking for some solid advice that is more descriptive than "buy low & sell high".

Any advice on strategy would be appreciated.