My thought is I buy a multi-fam (off market preferably) and house hack for 2 years then move south.

My wife and I have been investing in the stock market for retirement for years and we are hoping to diversify our investments by getting started in real estate. 

Many of the most successful (read as: founders that are worth well into the 9 figures, have survived multiple market cycles, etc) syndicators I know started by working in real estate for other companies.  

I wanted to share some insights on the Memphis real estate market for July 2024.

Or a general rough number for interior painting.I fully understand every market will be different.

Being a forward-thinking investor allows your portfolio to be more resilient in times of economic downturns or market fluctuations.

Option 1: Keep the home and rent it and cash flow about $2,000 per month while it appreciates.Option 2: Sell the home and cash out.Option 3: 1031 exchange the home into 4-6 units in Knoxville which would be about the same value.More info: Riverside as you all know is a great appreciating market but not landlord-friendly being in CA. 

Once you find a house that you believe would be a good rental, meaning desirable to your target market of customers (people within a couple of mile radius of the place), and all of the costs of monthly ownership that you can accurately project fall below the rental amounts that you project that you can get from your target customers, then you have a possible business asset that you can use to produce income, and have renters pay down the mortgage, while hopefully it goes up in value at least with the rest of the economy. 

@Jenna MeditzThere are MANY new options on the market, RentRedi, TenantCloud, Apartments.com, Hemlane, Rentec.

@Brenda FreemanI think seller finance can make sense when you can get an at or above market price; you don't need the proceeds; you want the monthly income; and delaying the proceeds will make sense from a tax perspective.If you are saying there's an existing mortgage you would have to pay off yourself, then I don't think that makes any sense - why would you want to invest your own cash to make this work?