Beginning investor in WA

[Ryan R]

Hello, I'm new to the site and to real-estate investing, although I've been reading, listening and researching for months now. I was looking for a house as a personal residence for the past year and in the midst of it all I realized that it is smarter for me to invest my money in real estate rather than in a house for myself. This constant searching and researching on the MLS also gave me a pretty good grasp on the market around here so I feel that the "unsuccessful" search was actually a blessing in disguise. I'm currently 31 years old and have lived in Washington state (Seattle/Bellevue/Tacoma area) all of my life. I'd like to get some advice as to what would be the smartest way to invest my money. My long-term goal is to generate enough cash-flow to not have to work a normal job to support my family and to be able to be involved in the things that I want to do with my life.

I currently have about $55k to use for investing and am thinking to either use it as a down payment on a 6 to 8 unit apartment building or on two 3 or 4 unit multi-family properties. The catch is that they would probably have to be out of state since multi-families (and properties in general) are pretty expensive around here and have mediocre cash-flow. I've met a couple of good agents out of state and have identified some good cash-flow properties, and am fairly certain that's the road I will take. The question I have is that I wonder if it would be smarter to keep my money and use it to finance flips here locally to build up my cash reserves, and then buy some multi-families while keeping enough capital to do more flips. I see deals quite often, even in the MLS that could generate a good profit. The downside I see to getting the multi-family properties is that I wouldn't have much to cover any extra should i not be able to secure full financing for flips, thus it would take me a while to build up my capital for another downpayment (albeit faster than before since I would have rental income from the investment properties to add to my earned income). I want to reach my goals as fast as possible, but at the same time I know that if I debate about it too much I'll be in analysis by paralysis. I've also thought about wholesaling as a means to build up capital for future downpayments too, so I guess that could be a good option.

Any good suggestions on what route to take would be greatly appreciated. Also, is there anyone in the area who would be willing to mentor or teach me the ropes with wholesaling or flipping? A joint venture flip would be interesting to me, or possibly to work as a bird-dog to earn my keep in exchange for some knowledge and experience. Just knowing a few fellow investors in the area would be great too. Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from some of you.

Ryan