Iffy on everything

[Joe Capobianco]

My names joe and I'm 21 years old and was very interested in real estate investment when my cousin brought it up to me from his success. I'm trying to learn as much as I can now so I can start buying within the next ten years because im in the hvac field and not looking forward to this being my main source of income considering its not a top notch career. I was wondering from anyone with experience if what my income from my full time job has a huge impact on my success in the investment world. I know doung hvac i wont be making six figures an currently my cousins full time job he is making that kind of money not counting the homes he owns. so i was wondering if im in over my head trying to get into real estate investment or does this just mean i need more time to save money.also, My cousin was saying to start off it would be good to buy a multi family home. I had no problem with that but I'm reading about 3.5% on a down payment and he was telling me to put a 20% down payment on what I'm buying. Can anyone help me out with what would be a better choice?