Insight on scaling up

[Nathan Owen]

I sort of stumbled into real estate a few years ago with house hacking. I have since moved out and got married, and we currently rent out my old house and use that rent to pay for the mortgage of the new house we live in. I own the rental property outright and it is worth about 180k-200k (Knoxville East Tennessee market). I know I want to scale up and build a portfolio of real estate, and I'd love to hear some thoughts and opinions on best ways to do that. My original thought was to sell and split that money up into 20% down-payments on a few small multifamily or SFH that could be converted to duplexes, setting aside a chunk of cash for renovations and rainy days. But recently, I've had some family members suggest skipping residential and moving into commercial multifamily, trailer parks, or commercial with a triple net lease.

Just some info about me that could be pertinent: My main objective for investing is cash flow with an emphasis on buy and hold. I've got some construction experience, so I can do small rehab tasks myself/with family/friends. However, I plan on using a contractor for the big stuff/stuff I'm not experienced with or licensed for. I have the free time to self manage if it is local. I've got good credit, decent household income, but no W2 for myself (was laid off at the start of the pandemic).