Multifamily or SFH in San Diego?

[Rick Rand]

Background:

-My parents recently sold their business and have around $700-800k they would like to invest. They have asked me to learn and invest it on their behalf.

-I am also a small business owner, but of a relatively new business. Income for last year was $60k, and expect it to increase $20-30k/year moving forward. My original plan was to wait on RE investing until I had a higher salary, but that plan has changed due to my parents request.

Question:

I like to start learning about real estate ASAP, but I want to take care of their money. I’ve read about the pros and cons of each, but am looking for targeted advice based on San Diego the money we have to spend in particular.  

-We would be investing locally in San Diego, not out of state.

-The only investors would be my parents and possibly myself, no syndication or other investors etc.

-My parents aren’t looking to get rich. Just immigrant parents looking to preserve their wealth and possibly grow it a bit. They are your typical "millionaire next door" type of people. Like keeping things as simple as possible. 

I know absolutely nothing at this stage, but my thought would be to either pick up a few single family homes or pick up a 5-8 unit multifamily property. If you were in my shoes with this criteria and $700-800k to invest, would you recommend spending a few months studying up on single family or multifamily investing?