Before you buy you 1st build you awareness of real estate investing, potential team members that you will need over the journey that will likely last the rest of your life and commence recruiting people and investing time seeking out knowledge and WISDOM.Wisdom would say buy in the down cycles of the market and refi cheap when rates are low but investors often have ants in their pants.  

That also means longer holds will appreciate faster allowing you to buy a TLC property, renovate and benefit on the ARV which will gain quicker in a market similar to 2021-2022.Reason why I mention this is if your buying fix and flips your prices will start to go up making it harder to use all cash to buy them.

The properties we buy are entirely turnkey and around the 40-65K range.

If you do not own a primary home its easier because you can claim any 2-4 unit as primary and only have to put down 3.5% for FHA, 5% for Fannie Mae or No money down 100% of you are a Military Veteran.Live in the home for 12 months refinance pull some cash out and move on to the next property to buy.

I plan to build versus buy because Im currently working for my father, who is a general contractor in Fl, and will save on the construction costs because I can do most of the work for little cost other than materials. it would be minimum labor cost and no profit cost from contractor.

My oldest child is going to college next year in a town where I could buy a house for $160k.

We do this on both the buy and sell side.

Those are easy to finance, and the financing is solely based on the properties income using a DSCR ratio for qualification.I would look for a property like this one, https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5810-21st-Ave-Kenosha-WI-...Lets say you could buy it for $100k, and its $50k in rehab, and ARV will be worth, $200k.When you do the rehab, make sure all the mechanical systems are brand new, then you will have relative few repairs for the next 3-5 years.I can get you a loan for $90k purchase, and $50k, rehab, once its finished you can refinance into a 30 year fixed rate loan between 6.5-6.8%, and cash flow. 

The rest you can handle from an hour away.Do yourself a favor: buy "Every Landlord's Legal Guide" by NOLO.

I happened upon your post here and am looking to potentially buy a VA assumable home in Hawaii.