Having Trouble Picking Strategy

[Tom Scott]

Hello all,

My first mail campaign began this weekend so hopefully the phone will start ringing shortly. My long term goal is buy and hold rental properties, mostly SFR, but I have managed to convince myself I need more cash to buy a rental property and therefore I am going to start out with fix and flips to build up my cash reserves before committing to a long term buy and hold. I want to repeat this process over and over for as long as I see fit. The problem is, the more I ponder this strategy, the more I realize that if I find a good deal for fix and flip, that deal would also probably make a excellent deal for a rehab and rent. Gainesville is a college town and the rental market seems to be doing quite well and should continue to do so for a long time.

So the question is, am I stupid to cash out on a fix and flip when I could probably turn it into a cash flowing rental instead? If I "buy like a wholesaler", my deals should have tons of room for cash flow even with bank financing. I'm interested to hear the groups responses. Just for the record, I can handle property management, but I am thinking I would rather buy low enough to afford to pay for it with my cash flow. I would rather buy more houses than spend my time fixing stuff.

Tom