Where to begin: Wholesale, Flip, or Renovate to Hold?

[Amiris Brown]

I’m new to all things Real Estate related, and I need some serious advice!

The following is my question, or dilemma rather, on where to start within the world of Real Estate.

This is my short and long term plans for myself, my boyfriend, and our Real Estate ventures together and/or with additional business partners:

Within a year my boyfriend and I want to be able to buy a single family home of our own (not a dream home, just a basic 3 bedroom 1.5 bath home). It must be a single family home, because my boyfriend has serious major issues with bass-like noises which prevents him from living any place other than in a detached single family house. Anyways, we would like to pay off that home within 3 to 10 years, but given the prices it may take us 8 to 10 years to pay it off based on work income alone. This presents a bit of a snag for us, as we would like to move out-of-State within the next 5 years. At the same time, I would like to get into Real Estate investing, though I'm not sure how this will mesh with our need to buy a detached single family house for ourselves within the next year. Regardless, my ultimate goal is to one day have a buy-and-hold portfolio of rental properties and leased land.

Currently these are my starting options:

• Option one, my boyfriend is willing to loan me $1,000 with no interest to start in Real Estate.
• Option two, my boyfriend is willing to partner with me in a $30,000 or less cash investment.
• Option three, my boyfriend is willing to partner with me using $20,000 of his own money while also obtaining a $400,000 loan amortized over 20 years at a 4% APR (now I have been informed that this loan may only apply to one owner occupied house, and not a loan to buy three houses so I need to talk to the broker and see what our options are if we want to use leverage in obtaining more than one property with a consolidated loan).

My question / dilemma:

Given this frame of reference, should I start out in Real Estate by becoming a Wholesaler? Should I start by doing a flip? Should I start by doing a renovation to buy-and-hold if I get access to a dirt cheap deal (possibly obtaining it while it is either off market through a motived seller or by obtaining it through a government auction)? Should I risk doing an out-of-state flip or buy-and-hold (since the area we live in is overpriced)? Either way, whatever I choose it will be my first deal. Keep in mind, I must not fail at my first deal. Which is why I am seeking a mentorship (even willing to possibly do a partnership) as well, but I need to know exactly where I should start? The reason why I must not fail is, I want to marry my boyfriend so messing up his savings would not be wise for our relationship longevity and stability.

So where should I start on this path given my current limitations? A path that one day I hope will end up leading me to a Real Estate empire larger than Trump’s.

*NOTE: According to three seasoned investors, plus the this BP YouTube $30,000 starting advice, https://youtu.be/F93TODuMBoM, they all suggest to start out with Wholesaling. I’m a bit apprehensive about that, due to the legal and ethical issues I must learn to navigate upon taking up Wholesaling. Thus, I am trying to see if there is any other advice than “become a Wholesaler” type of advice that has already been given to me. Frankly, I think Wholesaling in the State of Maryland is complicated compared to all other residential investment options.