I'm no appraiser but have plenty of fix and flips as well as new construction but IMO, it will be existing home. 

He has a lot of units and is a licensed agent in Worcester MA who knows plenty about single-family as well.

Paid off my primary when it got down to 90K.... not a ton of loan left, so I just paid it off, but still had plenty of $$ to invest in other things...it didnt tap me dry to do it.Exactly. 

Hi @Ron Sausa what's great about real estate is there are plenty of people that have done what it is you are looking to do. 

Quote from @Angel Romero: You'll get plenty of advice on what to buy, where to buy, how to cash out equity, setting up an LLC, and other noise.

Do plenty of research and find out what other mistakes have been made in your are and learn from them.Both are great options but maybe doing a simple pros/cons list for both STR and LTR.

Quote from @Josh Holley: @James Wise I have plenty of money to buy whatever I would like.

Nothing wrong with investing in equities.I'm plenty deep in that.

Wife and I both have an 800 credit score and plenty of income with a 19% DTI ratio. 2) Do you recommend that as a first timer I actually do go with a higher down payment product as I learn?

All that to say there is plenty of OOS opportunities out there even in the current market.