$300k to Invest. FIRST TIME INVESTOR

[Jaress Loo]

Long story short - I own two houses - one that I live in and one that I rent out. My tenants' lease expires next June (June 2026) and I do not believe they will renew.

If we sell the house, we're likely going to make around $300k profit.

I'm trying to figure out how we should spend that. My first thought was to buy 5 - 6 single-family houses and rent those out, but...I'm reading through Brandon's book right now and it seems that with $300k available to spend, we could skip straight to apartment building ownership.

After doing some research, I found an apartment building that I think would work. It has 24 units.

My biggest questions are...

1. What mistakes would I be making if I went STRAIGHT from having one rental house to buying a 24-unit apartment building instead of doing the "trade up" method and starting with a few fourplexes like Brandon discusses in the book? Is there a reason I should start smaller rather than the "go big or go home" mentality?

2. Is this a good use of $300k? Spending it ALL at once as a 20% down payment? Or am I better off splitting up and diversifying?

3. Aside from cashflow differences, would I be better off spending the same amount of money, but in a more expensive region for less units? In other words - buying a $1.5M 24-unit apartment building in a cheaper region or buying a $1.5M 6-unit multi-family unit in a more expensive region?

4. Any thoughts on using this $300k to focus on long-term rentals vs. short term Air BnBs?

I'm VERY new to this, but I'm a pretty smart guy, so I don't want to do something dumb - looking forward to learning a TON more here and reading more books before next June comes around!

Thanks!!

[Stuart Udis]

@Jaress Loo Invest locally to start and be an active participant. You can hire a PM but be present at your buildings and really take the time to understand the operations of owning and investing in real estate. Also, focus on quality over quantity. Definitely do not buy a 24 Unit building in a D/F location. Probably the worst decision you could make. Costs continue to rise. This disproportionately impacts lower value real estate. Layer on the need to rely entirely on 3rd parties if you are chasing units in a distant market and it's a losing proposition. In the interim, you don't have $300K to invest until you successfully exit the building you own. Make that a priority.