Newbie in South Jersey

[Nelly R.]

Hello all! I'm a newbie and I LOVE this site! I've been a homeowner and a landlord before; however, they both weren't that great of great experiences! I have a few bucks in the bank and after reading several books and getting the "itch" again, I want to invest in real estate. My husband and I currently rent our primary home (after previously short selling our other homes) and want to invest in properties before buying another primary home. From what I've read and researched, this seems to be the better route and it will set us up to bring in more money. If successful, it would provide a better future for our daughter when it's time to go to college and provide us with a bigger return as opposed to our $$$ sitting in a bank account.

It's been 2 years since we sold our previous homes so I'm thinking we would either need to go Conventional (not sure if we can do that for an investment property, despite having 20 percent...anyone know?) or find a seller who is willing to do a seller financing transaction. I'm not looking to purchase an expensive property to start off. Maybe anywhere between $25-75k and it would be a rental.

Any suggestions for a newbie? Should I start off by trying to get financing through a bank? Does anyone know how to go about asking for seller financing? Also, please let me know if you think i should post this in another topic. Thanks for all of your wonderful advice......I'm definitely reading!!!!