Newbie Investor - How to Invest $60000

[Misty Evans]

Newbie Investor here. Making moves to jump into the real estate investing world. I'm hoping to get some advice on how to invest my money and get my foot in the door. I currently have around $60,000 in cash that I want to invest into real estate. Here are some of my short term goals, to give you an idea of where I'm headed. I would like to buy a few rental properties in the next year or two, to bring in that passive income stream. I am looking at SFH and multi-family, really anything that is a good deal. I would also like to flip a few houses, nothing real extreme, but I've always wanted to flip houses, so I would like to explore that avenue as well. The longer term goal is to create a portfolio of rental properties, expanding into possibly apartment buildings and other multifamily units. The goal is to create passive income so that eventually I can become financially free!

My first thought was to do a flip and use the money for downpayment and renovation costs.  Then I thought that it might be a better option to find a rental property that I could buy outright with the $60000 and begin getting monthly income right off the bat.  Then look into other financing for other rentals or flips.  OR would it be better to use the $60000 for separate downpayments for multiple rentals, etc.

As you can see, I'm just not sure what the best way to invest the money is.  I want to expand and really find a groove in the real estate investment world.  Any suggestions or thoughts would really be appreciated.  I love to get other's opinions and am always up for new ways of looking at things.

Thank you!