RE Investing - Start Up Strategy - Opinions & Guidance Requested

[Jeffrey White]

Good day! I’m new to RE investing and have a unique experience presented to me. As being well-experienced RE investors here on BiggerPockets, your opinions and guidance are much appreciated.

BACKGROUND – I have been a professional healthcare IT strategist/consultant/project manager for more than two decades. Being a principal of two consulting firms, I am now desiring to change my career focus to RE investing. Over the past year my business (100% owned) did very well with 8 large projects and I have been rewarded with a windfall profit of $1.2MM of which I want to start RE investing.

REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCE – Over the past 35 years I have purchased and lived in 6 houses in different parts of the U.S. One of the houses was a 4/2.5/2 purchased in Ventura County, California for $535,000 in 2010. I designed and contracted a complete remodel of the house which also included some wall demo and kitchen reconfiguration. The remodel cost was $112,000 and house was sold in 2016 for $865,000 after being on MLS for two days. There remodel provided an ARV valuation increase of ~$175,00 and the remainder of profit increase was market appreciation.

LONG-TERM GOAL – By 2025 I want to be invested in commercial multifamily properties with more than 40 units. To get there, I need to gain the experience in RE transactions, functioning as a landlord (with a PM company) and build my investment fund to multiples of where it’s at today.

SHORT-TERM GOAL – I have been studying RE investing for about one month and I'm interested to start with detached single family and multifamily houses. I like the concepts of Wholesaling, Fix & List, Fix & Flip and BRRRR. Since I relocated to South Florida in 2018, I have been watching the RE market here and this week I'm starting to build my Pro Team. Over the next 5 years I want to build this business to the point where I can move into commercial RE investments.

QUESTIONS –

1. For my short-term goals, which strategy would you recommend to quickly gain experience and build the investment fund? Or would should it be a progression moving from one operating mode to another? Such as: Wholesaling in 2020/21 ---> Fix & List in 2021 ---> BRRRR in 2021/22

2. Assumption - we have a fairly stable RE market over the next decade. With 4 or 5 years of RE investment by 2025, do you believe that I should stay with single and multifamily (retail) houses or move into the commercial RE space?

Thank you!