I have $50,000 saved up, and I want to put this capital to work. Where should I start?
I've been working a lot lately and have about $50,000 saved up. Instead of simply having cash in my bank account, I thought it'd be smarter to allocate some of it to real estate. I've been doing some research and I've talked to a few people, and the problem I'm facing is that everyone offers me different advice.

Some people I spoke to said don't get into real estate because the current market is trash. Some say to start with flipping, then get into rentals. Some say you should buy a fourplex, live in one unit, and rent out the others.

There are so many ways to go about this, and I'm a bit confused as to where I should begin. So, for those with some experience, can you offer any strategies you've seen work best for beginners?
[{"id": "ia07im1", "text": "You should gravitate towards what interests you.  For me, I am building a complex that has 10 \u201ccondo\u201d units of flex space.  I\u2019m going to keep 2 for myself and rent the other 8.  It interests me, so the work involved is something I am learning from and doesn\u2019t feel like work.", "replies": [{"id": "ia0nkri", "text": "That's more than 50k isn't it?", "replies": [{"id": "ia1xy82", "text": "(I'm betting the ranch he has some borrowed funds for the bulk of this project.  It's a gut feel, but I'm going with it).", "replies": [{"id": "ia1y7s9", "text": "The whole project is about 850k.  It\u2019s cash in hand.  However once it is built and leased I will do an 80% cash out.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ia1yaim", "text": "Yes, more than 50k.  I wasn\u2019t suggesting you do what I am doing, but giving an example of something that interests me to tie into my comment.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "ia0zgmt", "text": "would love to learn more of what \"flex space\" condos mean.   Care to elaborate?", "replies": [{"id": "ia12pwd", "text": "Not OP and not sure of their exact situation, but in my experience they are usually half office, half warehouse give or take with one grade level rollup door, usually about 1200-5000 sf per unit. Mainly just for small businesses with a few employees. Similar to small bay flex but depends if the developer wants to sell them off just rent them out.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia0eshm", "text": "I would suggest buying a value add asset. If you can ascertain what the \u201cPro Forma Value\u201d or market value is for an asset and buy it significantly under that price that you will be shielded from 99% of potential mistakes that can happen when renovating and attempting to resell the asset. Potentially also partner with someone who already does it and learn going along with them. Capital will be very safe and you can get hands on experience without not knowing how to proceed", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia0ex88", "text": "Roth IRA if you don\u2019t have one. Put in the $6k max. Or buy a property you want (could be SFH, duplex, quad) and rent either units or bedrooms. Better yet, do both.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia0mgf8", "text": "VTSAX\n\nEdit: ok I didn't realize what sub this was lol. If you're going to live in a small multi, it's more financially efficient to use the FHA loan instead of a large down payment (in most cases, but PMI is a factor). \n\nEither way, if you're looking for \u2264 4 units, then that wouldn't be commercial real estate. 5+ is commercial, but if you have no experience with RE at all yet, I'd recommend starting with a 4plex. Most units you can get with more attractive financing. \n\nI managed ~130 units, everything from 1-24 unit buildings. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.", "replies": [{"id": "ia3wrvp", "text": "Less than 5 units can be commercial based on zoning. On main shopping streets it is common to have a bar/restaurant/business on the 1st floor and a couple apartments above. The zoning can make the difference in whether short term rentals are permitted or not and is also something to consider. Commercial zoning is typically more valuable because of the possibilities.", "replies": [{"id": "iae7dlu", "text": "Good point! \n\nI assumed because they referenced flipping, rentals, and \"house hacking\" that they were only asking about multifamily in particular. But yeah, good input. Thanks!", "replies": [{"id": "iaeev22", "text": "You\u2019re welcome. One other thing is for financing if you do FHA short term rentals are not technically allowed and the PMI is permanent, but with a 5% down conventional loan they are allowed and PMI drops off after 20% equity so usually I try and go with that one. 20% equity can come from both mortgage payoff and appreciation. It has sometimes happened for me based on appreciation in under 3 years.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia0mkzk", "text": "If you don\u2019t own your own home yet. Just put it towards a down payment and buy something.\n\nIf you\u2019re renting even at $1,000 a month that\u2019s $12,000 a year of \u201cinterest\u201d\n\nOwning a property, paying a mortgage, you\u2019ll be building equity, and forcing yourself to save, and stop paying someone else\u2019s equity.\n\nOnce you have $200,000 of equity use that to, buy flippers or rentals.\n\nNot saying you can\u2019t start doing that now with $50,000 but depending where you live. $50,000 really doesn\u2019t go far in real estate in a big metro city.", "replies": [{"id": "ia0oca4", "text": "\u2026 or any city if you want to buy commercial real estate as a beginner.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "ia12oap", "text": "\u201cHey I want to invest my money.\u201d \n\n\u201cSon, you should buy a non-income producing property in the most competitive housing market in history in the face of climbing interest rates.\u201d\n\nRight,  it\u2019s his cheap $1000/mo rent with zero homeownership taxes, insurance, or maintenance costs that are the \u201cinterest\u201d meanwhile you are building next to zero equity over the first 15 years of your amortized loan from the bank, whom you have to pay actual interest to, and are just hoping that housing appreciation outpaces other investment opportunities that are far more liquid. \n\nOP you only have $50k. you aren\u2019t purchasing a home, let alone commercial real estate with that amount of money. The $50k won\u2019t even cover the sellers agent\u2019s commission on most properties.", "replies": [{"id": "ia1adxn", "text": "Not true. Depending where you live, OP could get a fourplex under 500k with commercial space. I mean 50k is not enough for a cash offer or to buy the property outright, but it could easily be a 5% downpayment + closing costs. It is possible in many Southern and Midwestern cities. I bought my first property with 8k (5% conventional seller covered closing and gave a 7k repair credit) and 1st quad with 16k (3.5% FHA construction, seller covered closing and got another 7k repair credit). If the seller doesn\u2019t want to cover closing you can sometimes negotiate a higher purchase price so they will and then you end up fronting less cash. It is an extremely leveraged position, but everyone starts somewhere\u2026 that being said since the market is expected to dip in the near future you might be better off just buying some I-bonds and continuing to save so you have more of a cushion. I recommend 6 months expenses (including the investment mortgage) emergency fund in addition to investable cash.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ia1yprm", "text": "Damn dude!!!  We don't know his location, ***or*** his skill sets.\n\nIn some places in Alabama, he can buy a nice place for $150,000.00 so....50K can go a long way to lowering his current rental costs as well as provide a nice, not overly leveraged home to rent out.\n\nFrankly, in those same markets, when sellers are getting nervous and may like to take advantage of rising rates (as opposed to taking all cash and trying to find a home for that money), I could *easily* find a seller financed deal for 4% within **days** of trying and buy a 2 or 3 plex that needed some love (I did a half dozen of those deals when I was in my 20's and 30's).  Holding that for 7 - 10 years would likely provide a fairly nice equity base to start kicking things in to high gear down the road, once he gained some actually hard won experience.\n\nOP, don't dive off the deep end without careful consideration of the facts, but equally true, don't listen to every dickhead that can afford an internet connection either.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "ia2fo5z", "text": "The dude has to learn to leverage equity at some point if he ever wants to make any real money in real estate. Fact that he\u2019s worked and saved 50k he\u2019s already in the top 20% of Americans sadly.\n\nWith that said I\u2019m not saying buying a single home is the end all solve all man. But I\u2019m figuring he\u2019s smart enough, and motivated enough. Once he gets his own first property. After a year or so will figure out how to properly leverage it and turn it into and income producing property while he moves out and on.\n\nHe didn\u2019t post in r/investing. This is\nr/commercialrealestate\u2026", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "ia23o00", "text": "Dumb", "replies": [{"id": "ia2fydq", "text": "OkAy ThEn", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia0o7wu", "text": "Convert it to bitcoin and send it to me.  That\u2019s the start.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia0zq0e", "text": "Dude DRS GME. Wait like a month, then buy ten houses.", "replies": [{"id": "ia299i9", "text": "#hodl", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia21hvx", "text": "Real Estate is definitely the way to go right now - welcome. Right now I think your best move would be to find warehouse/flex space to buy - now this is no easy task because its hot (for good reason). Reach out to a local commercial brokerage team (specifically commercial, if you can find a specifically industrial brokerage team even better) and just tell them where you're at - that you've got a good chuck saved looking to invest it wisely and you think an industrial piece is the way to go, maybe mention too that you understand it may take time to find it because its a hot market. Brokers pay a lot of money to be on listing platforms normal people can't meaning if the product is out there they'll find it before anyone else, plus if they're in the business a lot of times they know an owner could be convinced to sell off market, and if its your first time (even if its not your first time) you don't want to go in alone, you need someone in your corner. \n\nThis, of course, if just my opinion.\n\nBest of luck!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia22du3", "text": "You could consider joining a CRE investor club. It will allow non-accredited investors to invest in CRE (at least, in some cases). I've been a member of a really good one I can recommend (they have both experienced investors and newbies) if you are interested. Many investors put in 50K for a single deal, but I've put in as little as 5K while others have put in as much as $1M for a deal. \n\nThe one I'm in meets weekly (virtually) and has members all over the US.  We review pitches from developers (operators) almost every week but most don't meet our criteria. \n\nAs an example, we are looking seriously at a current investment that anticipates a 10% cash-on-cash return with an IRR of 17%, 5 year hold period. We're still working through the underwriting, and a couple of members are flying to 'walk the property' this week. \n\nI'm sure there are other clubs that do this as well.", "replies": [{"id": "ia3y8ur", "text": "How does one join? Are there fees?", "replies": [{"id": "ia3yujw", "text": "There are no fees in the club I'm in, but it is important to actively participate, even if it's just attending/asking questions/learning to review deals, etc.\n\nI can't speak about other clubs; Personally I'm a bit wary of any investment club that is 'pay to play', but that's just my philosophy.", "replies": [{"id": "ia41k9z", "text": "Do you mind sharing how you found your club?", "replies": [{"id": "ia436bc", "text": "When I started learning about CRE, I (like most people) dove into a lot of books, podcasts, etc. I'm still doing that, but of course it doesn't take long before you start figuring out the good content from the fluff.\n\nOne podcast I like is 'How To Scale Commercial Real Estate' and on one episode they interviewed Emma Powell, who had built up a sizable portfolio over a few years. Even though I'm not focused on multi-family and she is, she had a lot of good information - anyone who I come across with some good nuggets/knowledge, I take notes.\n\nNear the end of the episode she mentioned that she had organized an investment club, and that the club isn't just for experienced investors, and so I searched around, found it and joined. They have slack channels, etc and some members offer different things they are working on; as an example, one member does really well with bridge loans so I reached out to learn more about if that might be an option for investing.", "replies": [{"id": "iai7qmh", "text": "Can you share the club?", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia23b9e", "text": "Does anyone have experience using CrowdStreet, or other crowd sourced RE syndication platforms?Typically those deals are 25,000-50,000 buy in.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia23lmo", "text": "Stock market", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia2kzzv", "text": "I'd go with a duplex.  Live in one half, rent the other one out.  Bonus for renovating one that's not great -- live in one crappy side, renovate the other, rent it, then renovate your side.  Buy in a cheap area (Mobile, AL &amp; similar are good these days).  If you're in a coastal area (usually challenging housing costs), you could make short term rental income that is admittedly more variable but higher per day than long term rental.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ia40lz5", "text": "Not here", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ibji2eh", "text": "Definitely would try to be more passive. It\u2019s a lot harder to actively manage than it looks. Check out the Private Investor Club or PIMD", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]