My Path and Need Advice

[Michael White]

Hi Everyone, I am new to Bigger Pockets and wanted to introduce myself and feel like I need some advice on where I should be starting my investing career.

I am 27 now and I have always wanted to get into real estate investing since I was 17 and read "rich dad, poor dad". I am sure that book has hooked a lot of others as well! 

In 2014 I started working at Quicken Loans and in 2016 they gave me an opportunity to move out to San Diego from Detroit so I jumped on it, shortly after being here in San Diego I realized there was more to life than commuting an hour each way and working a minimum of 10 hour days. I started going to real estate meetups and met a now friend that worked at fortune builders and we got to talking and made me realize that I can actually do this. So at the age of 23 with no experience I decided to take on the world of wholesaling and flipping houses and quit my job, which wasn't the greatest idea at the time. It did allow me the free time to learn about real estate investing and what was possible but I didn't do any deals and I was going broke. In 2018 I knew if I continued down that path with no education then it was going to be a struggle so I decided to go get a job with CT Homes which is the part of fortune builders that flips houses. 

My role at CT Homes was acquisitions so I sourced all of the deals, submitted offers and did all of the negotiations. In two years I was apart of 30 flips and my bottom line of them was pretty good. After purchasing the homes I was completely hands off but I do have relationships with contractors/realtors here in San Diego and I have my real estate license to sell the homes. 

I recently went back to Quicken Loans in May (100% remote forever) to take advantage of this refi boom and I am making VERY good money where I can actually afford to pay the gap funding with my own money while using hard money to fund deals. I also want to get into rentals as well because working at QL they give me a very good deal on rates and costs. My one thing I keep going back and forth on is where should I start. I really want out of corporate America so I feel like starting with a flip would be good and do 3 or so before going full time or should I start with building up my rental portfolio which would keep me in corporate America longer. 

Would love some feedback and thoughts on the direction I should be taking. I am leaning towards starting with flips.