How to determine what to invest in first?

[Greg Lindor]

Hey BP folks. I'm new here and I've been reading and consuming a lot of information on here and I Love it! I'm 29, married with two kids. My wife and I have decided we don't want to work past 45 and have our money work for us. We are from South Florida (Broward). Currently I have 12k cash in a savings account, without about 20k on its way through work bonuses in March. The home we bought was extended and contains an extension that brings in an extra 600/mo, which we recently started saving in its entirety. I've targeted to save about 50k in cash by mid year. Ok now that the background is out of the way here comes the question. What is the deciding factor in what kind of property one should invest in first? Single family? Flip? Multi family? Etc..I ask because I'm wondering how best to get started with a 50k startup and create an upward momentum for subsequent investments. I've read here that we'll probably have to explore different investment options to find out niche. Well how do you quantify what a niche is? Is it based off ROI? Ease of adoption in your area for that type of investment? What I really want to avoid is making a bad first investment that leaves a bad impression or taste on me and push me away into something else. I really want to do this in real estate but I also know there are many ways to make your money work for you. Is REI mostly a "follow you gut" feeling type of career? Sorry that was a lot of questions, but I'm an Engineer, I think it's our curse. 😆 Thanks