That is rare as most rates are around 2.3-2.8%.) 

My name is Tyler, and I'm currently a college student who recently landed a unique job opportunity starting in June 2025.

There are two idea I’m batting around in my head right now to get started on my REI journey – I can do it purely on the investing side and become a private lender or a source of hard money loans to builders/developers (maybe that looks like funding a construction loan collecting interest payments while buying time to better understand the dynamics and build relationships) or I can JV/partner with a builder and get equity (upside on a flip/sale) which would be more hands on.Curious what ya’ll input, what you think is the best route for me to dip my toes into REI given my aforementioned situation and current market.

Seems like a cashflow only market, so picking a neighborhood that can get decent tenants is a must. 

How heavy is your wealth tilted to real estate?

Learn together when you can or leave some links when you find something good so that it is a shared activity.There are so many posts about the metrics of a deal, or the qualities of the asset, but those won't matter if you put your relationship in the middle of your investing trajectory.

I believe this is one of the best ways to start in real estate.

91,000 is the ARV.

You can get the rehab funds and you can get cash against the As Is value to put in your pocket.

My biggest challenge right now is deal flow as I am trying to get into flipping and the sale side is pretty rough in my market currently.