In a rental environment, Hard Money works well when you find really motivated home owners and need to close ultra fast... or in situations where the homes need a bunch of rehab.

In general to learn about real estate in a lower risk environment should i purchase a multifamily first?

There are extremely nice spots surrounded by a moat of rough areas.Zestimates do not consider "environments" more than a calculation of sales.I would drive around the areas and check out the upkeep of properties and neighborhood.If you are considering a home in the area, shoot me the address and Ill be happy to pull comps for you.Thanks,Steve

In a raising rate environment its best to lock a good rate now and refi when the market stabilizes since we dont know for sure what rates will be in 2-5 years.  

Generally the new borrower needs to qualify with the lender, and in this low interest rate environment, it's rarely beneficial. 

Meetups are a great way to neet others in the community here and get a real feel for the investing environment

. $700k will not buy you much income in this environment and as you mentioned rentals are a slow process to scale even with leverage.

That would typically suggest an inflationary environment where values (and rents) are also rising quickly.

i do see the logic in that, but assuming tenants will pay down a mortgage is a pretty big assumption, especially considering the new environment were in. paying it down sooner minimizes the window of time that a risk of vacancy could ruin it. think about it, what if the cdc extends the moratorium to June 2021?

I have to thank @Michael Facchini for getting the loan to close and showing what a stand up job he and his team can do in a chaotic environment.