Quick background. I have very limited real estate experience and zero RE investing experience. Bought a house that we currently live in, leased commercial space for our business and loved the process of commercial demographics and finding the right location. My wife and I are 29/30. We just dug ourselves out of a 700k student debt hole by working super hard for the past few years. After dumping all that money into paying back our student loans, we now realize we have nothing to show for all of our hard work. Good news is we learned how to make good money with our day jobs and now have a good amount of excess income each month that we need to figure out how to invest. We have a good emergency fund, 401k, post tax investment account, and extra money just sitting there in a 2% money market account...
We have multiple sources of income including W2 job, small business, and other sources. We are both fairly happy with our jobs and not looking to quit in the near future. I want to start with real estate investing as part of my portfolio, but I do not want to take a ton of time away from my main job at this point because I make very good money with a limited amount of work. I do have a significant amount of free time while at my job to make calls, emails, etc., 1.5 hour lunch breaks, and work less than 40 hours a week. I have a high drive to take on new projects and develop multiple sources of income.
So I guess my concern is buying single family homes or duplexes and managing them is not worth the money/time for me at this point in my life (maybe I'm wrong). How can I still get into real estate investing where it is worth my time? Taking on a huge project right from the beginning like a large number of apartment units or commercial real estate is daunting/intimidating to me with such limited real estate experience. I am really into reading, listening to podcasts, searching for deals, and networking, but not at all into dealing with day to day headaches or managing properties/tenants. I wouldn't necessarily say I am extremely passionate about real estate, but I do enjoy it and have probably put 200+ hours into self education over the past 6 months. Would it be best to look for partners? Just invest in REITs? Start looking into larger projects like apartments or commercial? Also, I live in the Memphis area, which I believe is considered a good area for RE investing and I know the area decently well (have spent almost 20 years of my life here). I think my next step is starting to get out in the community to meet other investors and explore options. I want to try to focus on one area starting out whether it be multi-family, commercial RE, mobile home parks, who knows?
I'm lost on where to start though, please help. Thanks!
