What is your advice for RE investing in my situation?

[Ellie Narie]

I want to invest in real estate. I haven't invested into anything yet, so I'm still trying to figure out what my first deal will be. I live in a small town. I wanted buy 2-4 unit property with an FHA loan, but the properties available in my town are expensive, and they're not 4plexes. There are triplexes for 400k. Rents at $850-$900/unit, can possibly be increased to $1000 a month in the long run... Not great of a deal, right? Doesn't meet the 1% goal... So what should I do? I am currently renting. Should I just buy an expensive multi-family with FHA? Should I possibly do new construction? I contacted some contractors and figured out that the price of building a duplex with 3/2 units (including permits/site prep) plus land would be about the same, 400k. 3/2 units can rent at around $1500 a month per unit... New construction might appraise for more, so that might be a positive. And I have a lender that can do FHA construction loans on up to a duplex (no 3plex or 4plex for construction), so those 400k could be pretty much financed and the interest would be financed as well, so no payments during construction out of pocket... or is it better to just buy a ready multifamily? Or should I just not do any of this and buy or build a single family house 3/2 for something around 250k?

What's my best strategy here? Are there any other strategies I should pursue? I have no debt so far, so my DTI ratio is free and clear. I just don't want to mess it up and pursue the wrong strategy...