(Advice) Focusing on one thing

[Matthew Ward]

Good Morning BP! I’ve been stuck in the same place for a long time, and I could really use your advice.

I live in Duluth, MN. I am a full-time single father who dreams about invest in real estate. My long term goal is to build my own vacation rentals. I’ve been back and forth whether I should flip first, house hack, invest in long term rentals, or get right into vacation rentals.

I would love to dive right into vacation rentals. It excites me more than any other form of REI. I only have about $10k saved currently. I'm living with a friend now and I've been looking for a duplex to house hack for the last 4 months or so, without any luck. I could really use the income to offset my mortgage. But if I use my money for a down payment, then how do I continue to invest? I've been looking for a property with enough value add to refinance some cash out, but not having any luck. My other thought is that if I rent somewhere for now, and then use that money as "skin in the game" for the hard money lender I'm preapproved with, to flip a property, I'll have more cash to invest in either a duplex or vacation rental. Wish I could figure it out and be able to just focus on one thing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you BP