If you don't plan on doing agent business outside of your own transactions, just choose the best split and lowest fees, but you won't learn anything about doing the deals for yourself that way.

This way you can ramp up your savings AND learn some RE skills.2.

Learning how to negotiate off market deals as an agent is an extremely valuable skill.

For starters, the BiggerPockets Podcast is a valuable resource for learning.

The better you learn your market the better you will do.

Lessons learned?

I moved from Florida to start investing in Columbus due to the same reason.https://www.zillow.com/learn/hottest-housing-markets-2024/

Lessons learned?

I hope to be able to apply what I learn here to building my own income-generating real estate portfolio and eventually creating passive income for myself so I can spend more time with my kiddo!

Good luck, it is not easy to invest in because, among other things, you need a whole lot of knowledge, there are huge barriers to entry, and unless you literally know someone with experience, it is difficult to really learn.