Hello.

[Paul M.]

My name is Paul. I just wanted to introduce myself and pick some brains here as I make my foray into real estate investment. 

Last year was the best and worst year of my life. I had received the great news around late spring that I had been accepted into a nursing program for fall (September 2014.) My wife and I were elated because we were expecting our first child. On June 18th my beautiful, healthy, vibrant daughter was born. Watching my wife lovingly interact with her was the most amazing thing I will ever experience in my lifetime. I will never forget it. A week and a half later my wife had an eclamptic seizure and she stroked. Eleven days after that she would pass away in the ICU. Words cant describe how profound the loss was for me then and now. As much as I wanted to find a way to quietly evaporate into thin air, I knew I had to get my head straight for my daughter. That meant amongst other things rearranging my house of finances as well as starting the nursing program as I had intended. Its what my wife would have wanted and expected of me after all. Today, I'm a month away from having completed my first year of nursing clinicals. Its a two year program so I'm halfway there. I'd be lying if I said its been easy or that I haven't been in some dark places the past 9 months. I know however that every time I see my daughter's face, its worth it. 

My wife was a very responsible and prudent woman. As such, she had a life insurance policy. It wasn't worth a billion dollars but it was/is enough so that I haven't had to return to work as a nurses aide and I'm able to focus on school and raising my daughter. Even with help from family and babysitting, both are so demanding I dont see how I would be surviving without the policy at this point. That being said its burning. Of course, I'm trying to make it as 'slow' a burn as possible, but with bills and such, I realize I need to make an investment quick.

I've wanted to try to get into real estate rental properties for a while, I've just never had the resources or time. I do now with my summer off and with cash on hand, but I'm about as green as you can imagine. I need some input. I want to purchase some multifamily properties in my area and I have some questions about the manner in which I should proceed. I'm looking at spending 30-50k. Theres a about 10-15 that I'd consider in the 15k-70k asking price range. I have a ton of questions but the first one is this:

Being new at this, would it be smarter having the resources, to make a cash offer on one of these properties? My thinking is that with cash and not having to finance, I'd have some bargaining leverage to get a very good deal. Initially I think this is a good idea with getting 'my feet wet' and maybe as a learning experience. 

Then again while I'm very inexperienced at this point, the plan isn't to just buy one. Ultimately, I want to buy more (and more.) With that being the case, should I be looking at taking out mortgages to buy multiple multi-family properties? 

Which route would you guys recommend?

I should also add at this point, this would be a joint venture between my brother and myself. While I plan on being very hands on and involved with these new potential property/properties this summer, when next fall comes around and I start nursing clinicals again, management will fall squarely on his shoulders. Hes not putting any capital up front but with the business but he will be dealing with tenants and repairs/expenses. 

Oh another thing... My parents also just received about 150 k from farm land my family sold. We've talked to them about eventually investing in these properties but right now they aren't interested. I am mentioning this is because if I ever needed some help from them financially in terms of repairs or emergencies, I would have the benefit of access to money without having to take out loans.

Any advice or input would be great, thanks. 

Paul