I had difficulty with moving enough money here to buy real estate.

What would be the best way to approach this situation to recover the money owed? 

Many times I have been in the home they choose 3-4 times for previous sales years ago, so can tell them all about updates, etc.I think many people are getting ready to have a rude awakening in the coming year or two and when people get burned with no representation or loose a lot of money.

@Dan Bowe - The truth it, you need real life experience prior to taking other people's money.

I’m looking at two specific markets—Charlotte, NC, and Louisville, KY—but now I’m at a bit of a crossroads and could use some advice from this awesome community: should I use this money to rehab a multi-family property or go for new construction?

My husband and I are looking to do our first flip and I'm starting to search around for some hard money lenders in the area.

All the book examples out there seem to only point to making cash offers on deals found this way.I realize that if it's too distressed, a bank won't lend on it and other financing will be necessary (hard money, partnership, private lenders, etc).

You may be able to do a flip with a hard money lender since you have 30k cash ready to go.

The traditional ROI S&P500 for that amount of money would be fairly similar after accounting for everything.

You will then have a few options with that rent money....you can put it into principal or you can start saving it to purchase yet another property.