I am open minded and open to any suggestions or tips anyone may have for someone taking their first steps.

As long as I'm paying to get more equity and the numbers make sense, I think it's a good step forward for me.

@Dakoda Spencer, the first step is to go and look for apartment buildings for sale.

It will be slow going at first, it always is, but in the beginning you are laying the foundation for you future RE empire, so it is critical IMO that you do not try to side step or shortcut the process.

I'm not trying to get equity out of the deal I'm just trying to get my initial investment money back and get a mortgage on the house.

This group helped to learn the steps of risk mitigation, wealth  and real estate opportunity assessment hence gave me the tools to put "fear" under control.Like the say ....

I am interested in doing some wholesale deals at the moment and then take the next step to flip homes and eventually build up my portfolio with rentals etc for the long run.

Before you decide to take some big steps, I think you need to talk more to your wife and be on the same page with your strategy to buy real estate.

I think my initial offer should be somewhere around $70K.

I am meeting with a tax person tomorrow to discuss my plans.As far as the capex, I was thinking I should really use the 18000 initial investment number for CoC because I definitely will me saving that money back with the cash flow.