and just like most newbie (or maybe some newbie), hesitant on pulling the trigger, and yes i know i have to just go ahead and do it. i'm asking, humbly, anyone that can help or guide me about funding/financing my first property. - i'm looking for a small mfh in lehigh valley area and have 40k to invest. house hacking is out of the question as my family is already established in the good old garden state. i was told by a mortgage person that it'll be better for me to refinance my house (cash out refinance) to get an equity and lower my payment so i can qualify for higher loan and maybe even able to purhase 2 properties. with the current rate, my interest will likely be higher than what i have now (currently 3.5% and  have about 11 yrs left on it). would you guys recommend doing a refinance in this situation (for a first rental property) or 40k give or take enough to start REI adventure. thank you in advanced for your time and i appologized if this post is confusing for those seasoned investor.

My wife and I recently inherited what will become a humble single family rental.

And humbly, gratefully, thankfully you’ve asked for other professionals’ opinions.Good job!

@Peter J Marshall Start by reading these:How to Find a Real Estate Investing Mentor—the Basics649836-how-did-you-find-a-mentor26426-mentor297998-what-qualities-do-you-look-for-in-a-coach-mentorHave a humble heart.

In my humble opinion, everything on your list was at a D at best.

EVERYBODY starts from humble begins at some point.

If you can get really humble, step up and do all of the grunt work for your father and brother, you will accelerate your learning rate tremendously. 

I think we all agree PM is a challenging business, 90% of the time it's very satisfying providing safe, well-maintained housing...8% it's an absolute thrill because there's nothing quite so invigorating as meeting a mouthy tenant in court and seeing a night-and-day attitude change...and 2% its humbling when you need to separate ties with an owner (or tenant for that matter) because they need to go in a different direction. 

Hi Patrick,I run a full blown turnkey company.We have bought, renovated and sold over 500 properties.Moved here from Australia in 2012.Humbled to be where I am today :)Thanks 

Happy to share, and one unanticipated outcome from this project is getting to know the RE investing community in Toronto - a group of wonderful and humble folks who support each other through a sometimes challenging, yet gratifying journey!