Me and my wife are 27 looking to start investing in real estate

[Cody Cline]

Hi there, me and my wife currently own a small business and have 3 beautiful children in Redding ca. We are looking to start investing this year maybe early next with not a lot of money (20k) but we also have equity in our home. There are many investment loans and we are in need of help understanding which ones work in which situations . Iv been researching alot but I think we are in need of someone that’s been through this and does this stuff on the daily to help us understand the basics to investing smart and whether our area is a good place to even start or should we put our money elsewhere. I like that saying live where you want and invest where it makes sense I just wouldn’t know the first step to investing outside of my direct area. Sorry for the long post we have a lot of newbie questions thanks for reading. 
Cline Family