Buying and holding for retirement - don't need to quit my day job

[Kevin Knowlton]

Hello everyone,

I am looking into buying and holding as a means to assist with my future retirement, and possibly to help fund my childrens' education.  I have a good career making six figures and I am not looking to quit my day job.  My wife is at home but the kids are now in school so the plan is for her to manage whatever properties we purchase.  She is on board for this.  If it ends up being more than we bargained for, we will look at professional property management and will take that into account when we look at the financials of the deal.

There are opportunities to purchase a couple of different multifamily apartments ranging from 6-8 units, and of course there are a number of single family homes.  I am sure there is no right or wrong answer to this, but if any of you were in my position, which way would you lean?  Cash flow would not be huge in my area due to housing prices being high and rents being on the lower end.  I know there are pros and cons to both, and I understand that I did not include any numbers in order to make an informed decision.  What I am essentially asking is if you could start from scratch and you could come up with the money for a down payment fairly easily, what direction would you take?  Liquidity is not an issue since it will be a long-term investment unless something happens to me and my income takes a dramatic change.  I am self-employed in a stable career that should not have any major hiccups, but who knows what the future will hold.  I am finishing up my year end for taxes now so I am hoping to pull the trigger on something soon after.  I am sure that I will get a variety of responses here, but any input is welcome.

For those who may lean towards multifamily, are there any books, online courses, or in person courses that you would recommend a person look into prior to the purchase.  I believe I am analyzing the properties well, but I am just concerned that I might be missing something.

Thank you to all who take the time to reply.

Regards,

Kevin