First time investors, 1031 Exchange

[Zach Bajalcaliev]

Hello everybody!

So my family and I are selling our family business, and we are looking into investing in real estate in Illinois. We are going to be doing a 1031 exchange, and we will have just around $600,000 to invest. We have been weighing the options of investing in either apartment building(s) or a strip center. Does anybody have any advice, tips, or pointers? Also, is buying all cash the way to go? Or leveraging multiple properties? Just trying to pick some brains.

Thank you very much!