Money upfront to begin

[Drew Moyer]

Hey, just curious to how much cash money you had or would recommend having before jumping into REI

[Joe Villeneuve]

Zero, zippo, nada.  What you need is to know how money works...overtime.  It's called compounding, and you must understand it both coming and going...as in how it can impact you when you have profits/cash flow...and how it can impact you when you don't have profit...and remain in a deal having negative cash flow.

You don't need money...but you do need to know where money is because you must "use" it to do REI...it just doesn't need to be your money.

You need to understand the difference between:

Cost and expense
Use and Spend
Debt and Leverage
Own and Control

...and that's the short list.

Most important, you must learn that money isn't a noun...it's a verb.  When it becomes a noun...you lose.