Looking for our first rental / income property in Denver area

[Doug Dillmuth]

Hi,

My wife and I are recently married and I sold my house to move into her house.  We now find ourselves in the fortunate position of having $250,000 in cash to invest.  The stock market seems to be over priced and we really like the idea of having a higher level of control over our investments.  The idea of being able to use leverage to grow wealth is also attractive.  We decided we are ready to begin the journey of learning everything we can learn about rental properties before we begin shopping for properties.  

The Denver market does seem to be pricey and we are somewhat unsure of the appreciation potential of properties.   Does it make sense to look for a lower value condo or apartment as our first property and to use our assets to acquire multiple properties or to try to leverage our savings to buy a single much larger property?  

We have a new baby and we both work full time so we would be looking for probably a newer property that might not need as much maintenance or rehab.  Does anyone have any recommendations on real estate brokers or agents who are experienced in evaluating investment property potential?  

We are looking forward to learning through Bigger Pockets as we progress towards the purchase of our first rental property.  

Doug & Renee