My Friend tells me he has $50k saved.

[Sebastian Marroquin]

Hello, My name is Sebastian, a realtor in Pasadena, ca. I was having coffee with a long time high school friend. In conversation he said to me that he has managed to save $50k and asked me to advise him on what to do with it? 

He usually is a risk taker (so the threshold is pretty high), but he wants to be sensible and not lose it in his fist deal. He is open to flipping, buying rentals, JV investing etc... but each has pros and cons) We are in the LA market: so flipping with 50k is very difficult: (unless he does hard money on a purchase price that is really low somewhere far away from us: which brings other downfalls).

Rentals: he doesn't have experience (but has been reading a lot on it) and he is even ok buying rentals in other places like Nashville, Arizona, etc places where you can potentially buy for CASH for about 20k 30k to 50k) and rent it out. 

JV projects: he is open to them but there is a lot of shady people out there and he wants to know how to efficiently do his due diligence and not give his money to the first person that comes along (here or outside CA).

completing the picture: 

- he cannot invest 100% of it: bc he works on project commission base jobs (consultant for social media marketing)

- People do owe him money: and he will get about 20k more from it in March and April: 

- In addition he will save about $30k more by the summer (June) from wages after expenses. 

- Only debt: car payment (about 15k left on loan) and credit card debt ($6k) : other than that no debt. 

- 1099 : He is now earning at least $100k per year and fico over 750

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I know the advise I will give him, but I thought it would be fun to hear what you have to say about it! (and maybe other people in his position can learn from your answers also).

How would you advice him to move forward? What strategies can he take NOW to be a millionaire later? :) 

Thanks for the input 

[Joe Splitrock]

@Sebastian Marroquin I would encourage your friend to get on BP and have him get educated on real estate investment options. I would personally hesitate at getting a friend involved in real estate without them doing their own research and education. You don't want it to hurt your friendship. Have him join and tag him in this post.

Given your local market, I would recommend that he invests in an out of town market, but probably not a $20K cash deal though because that would be a C or D property. He would have nothing but problems. Still, he could afford a down payment on a single family or duplex in a smaller market.

It almost sounds like he owns his own business. Has he though about reinvesting it into his consulting business? That may be a faster path to becoming a millionaire. I know it is not real estate advice, but real estate is not the best path for everyone.

I don't know him, so it is hard to give the best answer. Just throwing out ideas. Good luck.