Lastly, if all this process seems like just too much and not for you, I suggest talking to @Chris Clothier that's who I'd personally go to if I wanted to make some market purchases off someone's word of it.

I’m in the same boat.

In the same boat as @Bruce Woodruff.

Any helpful information or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Hi @Eric JohnsonAs you bein your real estate investing journey I would suggest that you assemble your team of pros around you (like the avengers) AKA Your Core 41.

With your goal mentioned at the bottom, I would suggest either option 3 or 4.

I am also on the same boat and researching on an experiences on Ray.Does anybody have any experience with Ray? 

Good on your friend for suggesting house hacking a duplex.

Any suggestions?

So if one is going to stack up senior loans and wrap them with owners who cant get mortgages IE sub prime the person doing this better have a boat load of reserves to pay off the underlying when the deals go belly up.. that's the side of the coin that the guru is not going to talk about.