Completely new to this, with cash to spend..

[Dan Lam]

Hello forum,

I'm Dan and I've always been interested in the idea of real estate investment but just never knew where/when to start.  I believe I'm currently in a good financial situation to make a move and would love some tips & advice from people who have the experience that I do not have.  Here's a little bit about myself, I'm 34, single with no dependents, have a comfortable and stable income, excellent credit, and have been renting for the last 8 or so years of my life ($2000/month...).  As much as I like the area that I live in (Boston area), purchasing a house in this area is a bit out of my reach at the moment so I am still renting month to month for now..  

I have a decent nest egg saved and and around $100K+ of liquid cash available for real estate investment purposes.  I am considering using it as down payment on a fixer upper single family house to live in (so I can stop flushing money out on rent and start building equity) but ideally I think I might prefer pursuing different income generating options, such as flips or rental property, (granted none of these options come cheap around this area).  

Where would you start if you were in my shoes?