Whatever approach aligns with your goals, I would hook up with a solid team focused on that investment strategy with the experience behind them—no need to pay your dues if someone else has and you can learn from them. 

These two contractors may not like that area, or just had one bad experience, so it would be great if you could explore more of what other experiences people had/have in the city. 

Once youve got a few months of experience and everything is stable, start looking for the next one.

Purchase price: $55,000 Cash invested: $440,000 Currently under construction and pre-leased for $6,195/month, this 7-bedroom, 5-bathroom student rental in Clemson, SC, was built using investor cash and designed for high-end student living.

This has nothing to do with real estate experience. 

I have experience with this business model. 

And what seemed was good turned no-go, turned into a nice deal end of day.

Managing five rentals can eat up a ton of time in any given week, often at times that are inconvenient to you and your personal interests (family, hobbies, travel, etc.).”That’s been my experience, too.  

Thanks @Iris OlivasI did some searches and ended up on a site that provided state by state listings of Private Lenders some of whom did 75k and up. 

probably the same in NY but was looking for others experiences.