I've been in your position. Some options are lending you money out hard money (either find some local hard money lenders to place it out for you or learn how to originate your own HM loans). For HML to need to REALLY learn how to appraise properties (or cross check someone elses appraisals) and how to screen borrowers (experience levels, skin in game, etc...). A weakness of earning interest income from hard money is you have to pay a lot of tax on it if the money is not in a retirement account. Rentals shelter cash flow better with depreciation.
Flipping is a ton of work, education, a full time job, highly competitive, risky and you pay a lot of taxes on the gains. You might find a flipper to partner with. But tread really, really carefully and learn as much as you can to underwrite the flip yourself. And consult an attorney about the partnership.
Buying an apartment building is another option but a ton of work, energy, effort and full of landmines for a beginner. Also your in CA you would likely have to go out of state to make numbers work. You could find a partner here too but tread really, really carefully and I would spend months educating yourself before doing that. And consult an attorney about the partnership. Also multifamily prices have been going up since 2010 now, so you wonder when the cycle will top out and if there are only marginal deals left with limited upside but considerable downside.
Commercial syndications and crowdfunding are options too. Tread very, very carefully here though too. I have been slow to this because I'm personally very controlling with my own money, and I can't bring myself to invest in things I don't fully 100% understand and need to be able have a strong feeling if it's a good deal or bad deal and mitigate my risks. I feel with large apartment syndications and other commercial syndications (retail, hotels, industrial, development, office, etc...), I just am not confident in my ability to underwrite these to a level where I feel I can truly know if is a good deal or bad deal. I feel like it is too much of a shot in the dark for me. Lot's of moving parts. I can look at the numbers all day a sponser give me, but I have rely on someone else who got the numbers second hand.
Small actively owned rentals can be good and I have had success here. Some of my best cash on cash returns here. But my best success was buying in a highly desirable local market AFTER a large crash in really good areas where prices briefly overcorrected and then shot back up post crash (and rents shot up too). I did not personally have success buying out of state in my small experience there. If I did rentals again I would probably want to be local where I could really get to know the area and look for deals and niches and get a competitive advantage. Directly owning rentals worked for me because I bought after a crash when prices artificially fell way below where they should be, area had very low vacancy and hard to build so chronically low supply, area historically has strong rent & price appreciation, properties did not need much work, etc... So I had little turnover, great appreciation, etc... But this is hard to find, timing is important, and I do not know where I would find it today or I would buy there!
