For management, self-managing saves costs and teaches valuable skills, but a property manager is essential for out-of-state properties or scaling your portfolio.

Also, there’s much to delve into on of those scenarios, like what type of cashflow or investment do you want, etc. residential, multi-res, small multi-res, commercial, industrial, etc.There seems to be fewer deals around these days and this typically benefits the more experienced and skilled investors but there are always multiple investors that get “tripped-up” in these markets due to them relying on recent “fortunate” market circumstances only to realize the markets cycle and they weren’t prepared or didn’t underwrite properly to account for unforeseen potential.There are more considerations, but this is a start.

:)Just kidding.1) Stock market: may want to do this while exploring other options, just make sure funds are easily accessible2) Buy Multi-unit: two basic options:- Buy turnkey: may not cashflow for 3-5 years, depending on your management skills.- Buy someone else's problem: can you fix their problems?

.- Working a W2 as a firefighter, posting and consuming content- Leaving my W2 to dive deep into real estate investing and working as an agent... and still watching/posting content all while business was ok - Deleting social media apps (one have one on my phone that I use 10 minutes or less a day), diving deep into building my business and skills which have drastically increased due to pure focus and increasing my business significantly- moral of the story... focus on the things you need to do in business (dollar productive activities) and life experiences while reducing consumption will increase your success  

I am sure working for the Home Vestors Franchise gave you a lot of tools/skills on getting undervalued properties.

Just like every professional has a different pay range and skill cap, PM has differences in knowledge and skills.

Good people gave me work, I learned more skill, more money, worked hard!

While the initial years might not be financially lucrative, the knowledge and skills you acquire will be invaluable.

Since I have been using Padsplit for my first 3 investment properties I don't have the skills built yet for marketing or rent collection. 

My clients are mainly real estate developers, PE funds and individual investors doing syndications and my core skill is in real estate valuation / due diligence across real estate asset classes.