I also hate to be the bearer of bad news but you aren't going to buy a single family home and cash flow and be happy with your investment. why not purchase a new construction duplex or triplex or look to build one directly?

If you don't care about that, you can do a cash out refinance and pull the equity out with a fixed interest rate and payment but the interest rate is usually higher than a non-cash out loan.If this is an investment property, your options are similar but you can also use a Debt Service Coverage Ratio or DSCR loan and use the income from the property to qualify.

So the barrier to entry is not as high as traditional investments.

Welcome to BiggerPockets Melanie and best of luck investing!

Tenant screening and management can turn a great investment in to a total nightmare and most new landlords don't actually save any money by self managing. 

Ok so a diff path then my previous post.I also wanted to invest in real estate but just assume( and bet is probably true) that most of the people that find truly good investments have  either or all of the following the most "average joes" don't:1.

I would lease first before committing to buy office condo is one of the worst as a profitable investment.

I’m looking to purchase my first multi family home in the city of Colombus and am looking for the hard numbers, metrics I should be on the lookout for, and sample properties to get my hands wet as far as what’s considered a good deal and area to invest in.

Who overcame a big investing hurdle?

I have a few people interested in investing with me strictly as cash partners.