Hello! I’m beginning my journey into real estate investing with the goal like many of you of generating passive income and discovering financial freedom without having to rely on a “day-job” for much longer, so I can travel more and spend more time with my young kids/family. I have no prior experience in real estate, however, am fortunately enough to have access to sources of income besides a fixed job salary that provides me additional CF and a long-term safety net.

I’m eager to invest opportunistically into real estate and so I’ve been immersing myself in real estate knowledge through books, podcasts and videos, which led me to the BP community of supporters. I’m also in the process of reaching out to people in my city/neighborhood who are experienced REIs, RE agents, and GCs to get their insight and pick their brains, start to conceptualize potential partners, etc.

I know I want to start small/slow with one project (either a rehab/flip or a buy/hold long-term rental) and invest only in areas that I know or live (Los Angeles, Orange County, CA) at least in the beginning.

Currently, I have a ton of equity in my home (valued at ~$4M), have good credit (800+), and despite being between jobs and without a steady income, have the capital now to invest and want to develop a plan so I can take action in one shape or another.

There are two idea I'm batting around in my head right now to get started on my REI journey – I can do it purely on the investing side and become a private lender or a source of hard money loans to builders/developers (maybe that looks like funding a construction loan collecting interest payments while buying time to better understand the dynamics and build relationships) or I can JV/partner with a builder and get equity (upside on a flip/sale) which would be more hands on.

Curious what ya'll input, what you think is the best route for me to dip my toes into REI given my aforementioned situation and current market. Looking forward to making connections at the very least!