Brand New To BP, Sharing My Situation, Would Love Advice! :D

[Michael Schaper]

Hello Everyone,

I'm happy to be here on BP. This is first ever post so I hope it leaves a good impression. My name is Michael, I'm 25, married with 1 little baby girl, and I'm out of Phoenix AZ. I'm currently in sales in the another sector and make a decent income. I've been able to save up about 50k separate from my stock portfolio, I own the home I live in and have a little over $100k in equity in my home. Over the past year I have basically only invested into my stock portfolio by maxing out my Roth IRA and investing another 30k or so in other regular accounts. I've thought about investing in real estate for a long time, done some research from time to time, watched YT, read some articles on BP etc. but I never took the plunge. After seeing the crazy amount my home has appreciated over the past year, I decided I need to stop putting it off and just jump into it.

With that being said, I'm trying to figure out where to start. I'm looking to buy long term rentals, I don't ever plan on selling them unless its to buy a bigger better property. A few of the things that weigh heavy on my mind 1. What market should I invest in? (Thats a loaded question, but what are some good markets I should look into, I'm not opposed to OOS, although that does make it trickier cuz I'm clueless about the market in my backyard, let alone OOS) 2. Should I focus on wealth building over cash flow? (Buying properties based on assumed appreciation vs buying based on cash flow alone) 3. Is now the best time to buy? Does that even matter if I don't plan on selling(There are lots of talks of an upcoming correction, so it would be easier to buy more property with less capital if that did happen, but I also understand opportunity cost) 4. I'm currently taking a course to become a real estate salesperson (mostly just for my own investing, but also because I want to learn a lot more about Real Estate and network with important people and build my own team as I start to work with a brokerage) 5. For my first property, would I be making a mistake by buying a fixer-upper rather than a turnkey property since I have no team of contractors or other connections that people seem to have when doing fixer-uppers? 

My motivation for real estate is to build passive wealth, with which I can reinvest to continue on my path to financial freedom. I'm not a short term thinker, I'm thinking about generational wealth and leaving behind a legacy for my family. With that being said, I am more than willing to learn the ins and outs of the industry even if that means being on the sidelines for a bit to make sure I get it right. I definitely plan on having a Property Manager as I spend most of my time working or with family. I don't mind giving up a bit of the cash flow as long as I'm still seeing positive cash flow and its scaleable. Any support, opinions, or recommendations are more than appreciated! :)

Thanks!