Nashville and Bham are the two markets I'm looking at right now to begin investing.I'm looking for work, but haven't found it in my industry (events) so far, so I'm still unemployed.I will be a first-time home buyer with a good credit score, but I don't have a downpayment (that money was spent on my move!).

My partner and I are looking to connect with other wholesalers and investors in the area to get more acclimated with the industry.

I work as maintenance superintendent at a commercial building (about 80 000 sq ft) (4 years experience).So I love working in the Real Estate industry, And my goal is to start investing.But I am lost because in the USA there are many paths you can take to move forward in the real estate industry. 

These are mutually exclusive actions.

It seems like you have good experience in the industry so it's not a bad idea nor frowned upon to try that.

For example, its easy to look back at 2008 and say that "oh I knew that would happen" yet in the moment millions of people had no clue a crash was coming and not just ordinary people but huge financial industries as well.

But it illustrates the point that even at very compressed rates, as long as the property "pays for itself," it can still be very attractive to many investors.Here's the fun thing though: this graph is an industry generalization based on limited data and survey responses. 

@Mason DePeal If there isn't much room on the rental side and you've lived in the property, it may make the most sense to sell off to take the primary residence capital gains exclusion when you sell. 

(Including references to others in the industry).

Instead of the full exclusion, you now have the prorated exclusion only.If you sell it in June 2021, you will have 3 years + 4 months of "non-qualified use" and 2 years + 7 months of "qualified use."