This will be my first investment property and I am hesitant to just hand $30k+ to someone and trust it'll all work out.

I wanted to reach out to see if you could provide any guidance or ideas on how and where to start with this process.Any advice or resources you can share would be greatly appreciated!

Overall though, if it's a private loan and not a hard money loan, other than the costs of the loan itself (interest rate, points, etc.) the costs should be pretty modest. 

The question I have is, do we sell the house or keep the house and rent it out?

think about how long it will take to recoup all the costs i just mentioned.if you want day 1 cash flow... open a savings account.i say this not to discourage you but to help set expectations.Nicholas is spot on.

Im sorry I do not have experience with any system like this so I cannot say which would work better, I see merit on all of the options. 

Hey @Al Banfe any reason why you would prefer a local bank over a mortgage broker? 

I sold 1 early this year and did not buy another property because I didn't want to. 

It's great that you're eager to learn, even if you're not ready to invest yet.

Any thoughts on how to go about this?