Part of REI is to scale. 

If you are planning real estate investing to be a long-term wealth building strategy to you and view this as just the start of scaling and building a portfolio, absolutely hire a realtor that knows what they are doing to help, a couple thousand is nothing in the large scheme of things and if something goes seriously wrong because you don't know what your doing, that could set you back years

So I can't afford anything in California that's not a manufactured home under my loan and if I cannot purchase the land with it then its a no go?

Your profit here is great, don't throw away a deal just because it's not perfect.Cash and Debt are the only two ways to scale a portfolio quickly.Not every deal has to be a home run, especially if you're able to move in and out of the deal relatively quickly... like a flip or wholesale.Someone will make money here if you don't.

I currently self manage but at some point I’m going to want to hire a manager and then may be free to scale more but I don’t see myself wanting to self manage more than 10-12.  

Hi Renaldo, One of the easiest ways of scaling in real estate today is to invest in turnkey properties out of state.

Hi Bob this may sound like a simple answer and i wish i could answer without it sounding like some kind of a dating profile answer but it's the answer i can provide i have 20k, an 800 credit score, a house that has equity in it, a long term vision, reliability, and i hold a high value with the sense that a team can move much faster and scale far easier then going it alone hopefully that's a fair response.

I’m looking for PLs for projects that I need little to no work now and need the funds to be held for 12/18 months, thing is now I need $600k to $700k to complete my scale plan for 2023. 

Hi Danielle, One of the easiest ways of scaling in real estate today is to invest in turnkey properties out of state.

Prices for studio apartments (circa 80 sqm) go for about 200K in Malta and could generate about 20K cash flow per year.The reality is it is a good 2nd investment, however I would not be able to reach financial freedom with 20K per year and I would also not be able to scale up as bank would not lend more.Is someone able to offer some advice for someone who is in a situation like me?