If you buy a house to rent out you will inevitably need a slush fund to pay for the unexpected hot water heater failure, etc.Once you get a few wholesale deals under your belt you will understand the market better, have met a number of other investors(check out your local REIA to meet them) you can learn from, and better understand alternative methods of investing to move forward.Keep asking questions and reading posts on BP and you'll have a wealthe of knowledge.

Its held once a month in Addison (close to the Tollway and Belt Line) and its free.

I'm reluctant to post this under "Success Stories" since the jury is still out! However, it's a success story in that the BP community has motivated me to finally jump into real estate and make things happen. So th...

I am interested in investing in my first property within the year once I have a little more knowledge under my belt.

That way you learn the ropes, get experience, get to network, put some successful deals under your belt and you risk very little.You should be working on your credit and debt to income, and you should always be learning more but you should be doing all of these things in addition to building your real estate career, not instead of building your real estate career.Work hard on all tracks of your life and you will succeed, not just some tracks.I hope this helps and good luck :)

You may have to tighten your belt in some other areas of your life but soon you will quit burning $300 every month.

Depending on your experience level though it might make sense to flip 2-3 houses first to understand how to deal with contractors, lawyers, lenders, agents, etc when the stakes are lower.Even though apartments are commercial properties, getting some of the basics under your belt will result in 2 key benefits:You will have a good idea of estimates for normal repairs to the units and can better understand what properties will take once you purchase them to bring them up to your desired standard for the area.Your potential investors might have more faith in your performance if you have some other investing experience under your belt - might even want to consider getting 1-2 rentals to help with this "resume building" if you are going for a number of investors that may not have personal knowledge of your capabilities. .

I mostly wanted to get the course under my belt for my own learning purposes.

Sounds like you have a little knowledge under your belt, happy investing!

After you get a couple fix and flips under your belt I think the investor route would be a good way to scale out your business based on your goals.