Many newcomers spend their first few years working under a sponsoring broker, and during that period, the broker often earns a significant portion of the revenue.

We have retirement accounts, a small private stock market account, and an emergency fund. 

•Explore private lenders or hard money loans if you need higher leverage, though the interest rates will likely be much higher.

As an example, we joined an expensive, but exclusive private networking group 12 years ago.  

Now, this was all done with someone's private money so is it private money or hard money?

All is not lost, if you can find a seller of the apartments who is alos willing to finance the purchase for you;  Or look for a private/hard money lender.

You're going to have to spend a bit of time researching markets but I think picking a market you like to visit is always good. every vacation becomes a write off! 

Hey Peter, thanks for the comment and the insight and you are absolutely correct about knowing what sells in your market, I see this happen with a lot of fix and flip projects that are just in the wrong areas, the investor gets the house for a good price however spends too much on repairs and adds a lot of luxury thinking that it will push the ARV significantly higher than the average in the area.

Private money or family money is best to get started.

I’ve had great experience with private landlords in the past, and have found fellow pet lovers that didn’t charge pet rent, or accepted my larger dog (when he was alive) to live in an apartment without hassle.