Complete noob thirsty for knowledge

[Josh Dubin]

Hello everybody, my name is Josh, I'm 22 and I'm interested in getting into real estate. 

Goodness, I have so many questions, I don't know where to start, but I guess I will here. I believe that the best way to start out is to flip, in order to generate some capital, in order to fund more lucrative buy and hold deals in the future. If you disagree, please correct me if I'm wrong, because this is most important first step; choosing which path to take. 

However, under that assumption that flipping is the right path for me, I have some concerns. I'm sure this main concern I have has been discussed time and time again, so please forgive me. That said, If I go that route, I have no vision on investing sweat equity; that is, doing the rehab work myself. Not because I'm lazy, but because I'm not a carpenter and I feel like the time could be used more effectively, even if it means cutting into my profits by hiring a contractor. I figured that surely, I can't be the only one who hires a contractor to do the work. 

But after doing a bit of reading, I'm skeptical, and I wonder, will hiring a contractor to do all the work make flipping not worth it? I know "worth it" is subjective but to put to put it into perspective, would you be able to give average profit percentages for contracting vs sweat equity? 

I have many , many more questions, but I'll start here. This marks the commencement of my embarkment on a quest for knowledge about real estate investing. 

Thanks!

[Eric Beise]

@Josh Dubin I love the enthusiasm and willingness to put yourself out there! Without a ton of knowledge and experience, its your enthusiasm and hustle that will make you a valuable partner! With that said, I would steer away from a flip as your first purchase. There are so many moving parts to doing a flip well, that you would likely miss on some aspect of it as a new investor, and end up draining your resources. That's not to say that it can't be done, but I would strongly suggest finding a partner to do it with that has some experience. 

My guess would be that the house hacking situation @Aaron Christen is describing would be best. 

I would strongly suggest last week's podcast with Scott Trench, in additional to all the others there. Also, if you haven't went through all the beginners guide videos do that! There is so much base level knowledge in there it will blow your socks off.