I've listened to most of the Podcasts, read hours and hours on BP, several books, etc. I am not broke and do have a little money saved up (about $16K total not including my 401K).
So far, my favorite strategy is buy and hold smaller (preferably 10 to 75 unit) apartment complexes for cash flow. Obviously, my little $16K is not going to go far in this arena no matter the market. I would rather keep that savings for covering whatever newbie-tax I will surely owe very soon. I understand that to get hard money or even commercial bank money for this big of a deal would require me to prove my expertise in this first. I haven't done a deal yet although I do own my home. It has about $30K in gross equity putting me at about 77% LTV on my FHA. I cannot sell for another 3 years due to using THDA. Since I make far more income now, I would have to pay back the down payment they gave me if I sell in less than 7 years. Also, we are in the middle of a project that is not yet up to code so an inspector is not yet my friend.
Here's the question: How do I get from here (no experience and little cash) to owning my first apartment complex that cash flows?
1. Partner for the down payment on a commercial loan.
2. Partner for the down payment on hard money.
3. Start with a small multi flip using hard money (or a combination of my money and hard money) and then trade up to bigger multis (1031 or carry over the note) until I reach the kind of cash that the bank or lender would consider as enough skin in the game to lend me the rest.
4. Other? What am I not seeing as an option? For those who have apartments in this size, how did you get the first one?