College graduate looking to start real estate investing

[Andrew Lentz]

I am graduating this May with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I am currently looking for a full time job in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and Kansas. Currently I have a strong lead on an ideal position in Salina, KS. I have some real estate experience from my family. My parents bought a 3 bed 2 bath foreclosure and I did a majority of the work to remodel it. They rented it out for about 5 years and now they currently have the property listed for sale. My mom also bought a sheriff sale property that I did all the remodel work on myself. It is a 3 bed 1 bath house that is currently rented out.

My reason for getting into the real estate market is to increase my disposable income. I am an avid bow-hunter and would like to purchase a quarter to half section of land to manage for wildlife and rent out some acres for tillable ground. I have experience dealing with farmland as I grew up on our family farm and still help out when I am home on the weekends from school.

Wherever I find a job I am interested in getting into the real estate business. With my degree I should have around $30,000 of disposable cash every year. I have worked my butt off to graduate school without a loan and would like to operate without too large of a loan. I will be saving as much as I can for the first year of my job in hopes to use the cash to put towards a real estate investment. I am considering a few different options to get into the market. I am looking at House Hacking, Rentals, and maybe flipping houses. I have tons of experience within the construction industry so a fixer upper would be a great fit. I can do drywall tape and texture as well so that will further decrease costs of a rehab. I have looked at houses available and found a few for under $40,000 that I could rehab and rent out for $600 a month. I would like to hear others opinions on where to begin my real estate investing. Is there any program I should take advantage of for my first investment. First time home buyer? With something like that maybe I save for 2 years and try and find a multi-plex and live in one unit. 

Thanks for any info,

Andrew