@Bryan Gwin,
For a beginner, I'd proceed with extreme caution. I barely made it out alive doing a 5-year stint with a rental out of state. I used a third party to confirm the property value and confirmed my LTV was about 50%. It was total BS. The only value in the property is the rehab and guess what happens over a few years. Only people making money in these situations are the property managers. This is why you see a lot of the big players that have integrated their rental operations into a property management operation. These folks realize they make money more consistently just being the manager. So they have no problem selling it to you for top dollar and still get their cash-flow. If you are doing several dozen and look to build your own management group, then I'd say go for it. If you think you will achieve a certain level of cash-flow with one or two, you will be disappointed. Maybe not year one or year two, but the situation will turn.
With $70k and wanting some mailbox money, I'd loan the funds to a local flipper who doesn't really need the money and just looking to increase ROI. This way you get 10-20% return, your principal interest is recorded on the title, and when the project sells or note matures, you get wired the cash. I did a $60k note when I first got started over 5-years ago. The flipper, in my case, doesn't mind the high-interest rate because he buys so low and recycles his capital to keep buying. I have an 18-month promissory note maturing this month. The collateral was a single-family home in Portland Oregon. I collected $50 a day for 18-months and didn't miss any sleep. The key is buying a buck for 50 cents and if you can't, loan to someone who can IMHO. I am a full-time engineer in Vancouver, WA, and don't have the time to secure deals so I teamed up with folks that do. Best of luck!
