Starting Out

[Heath Ryans]

Hello Everyone,

This year I'm kicking off my real estate investing one way or the other. When I return from this deployment I'll have around 15-17k to work with for whatever direction I choose to go. This is where I need some advice. I'm kind of stuck on what to do first. My options are large apartment complexes, single family rehabs, and single family rental. In that order of preference. Here's my issues/benefits with each.

apartment complex - great passive income. can easily up rent to fund improvements. however, they require much more initial capital than i have on hand for purchase.

rehabs- realistically probably the best choice. large returns which will allow funding of more projects. but, if the first one goes south, im out of cash

rentals- honestly not the way id prefer to go just because of the small amounts of passive income. but i could purchase two right off the bat and have $300-400 cash flow/month.

either way i go im going to need funds. which brings me to my next question. Does anyone know of a legit, reputable, hard/private money lenders? i've found plenty of different lenders, but anyone can create a nice webpage or classifieds ad and write their own reviews. who do i trust? I'm in TN. I seen the lenders listed here. Anyone worked with them before?

ive tried talking to friends and family but they either dont have the money, "dont have the money", or just refuse to listen. so that well is all dried up.

to sum all this up,
Which direction seems better to start with?
Reputable lenders?
Any bit of advice?

Thanks,
Heath