Quote from @Kevin Hilton: I am looking to acquire my 4th rental property, but I would like some advice from all of the seasoned investors in this forum. 

Since I enjoy the management and improvements and tools and growing a business, I chose to acquire my own properties.As for whether syndication is the "best way" ... it's totally whether the syndicator is good or not. 

I intend to relocate to the Rapid City, SD region in April/May for work, and I plan to acquire a primary residence that could eventually be transformed into an investment property.

(a) A person may acquire an option or an interest in a contract to purchase real property and then sell or offer to sell the option or assign or offer to assign the contract without holding a license 

@Muhammad KashifMost debt funds are equity only as they don’t take on leverage and are “cash only” when they acquire / lend on assets

Wholesaling would be signing up for a job that will make you hate real estate and waste money (even though your sales background would help, I would use it to acquire for yourself later), so house hacking is a great option because you learn landlording.

Are you trying to use FHA on your first property or you are planning to move out from your current primary and trying to acquire the 2nd property?

If your account does not have sufficient funds to acquire a property entirely, you can look into a non-recourse loan. 

If your plan is to acquire a larger multifamily property, you most likely have a team in place for when that time comes.

Or sometime we acquire properties and have the agents market the pocket listings for us.