Starting out- what to do first?

Hi guys,

even though I have been in the Real Estate game with my partner for a while I find it hard deciding what to do first with my own money.
I have been in regular employment long enough now to be able to get a mortgage and have saved $18000 over the last 2 years.

So this is where i start out:
Borrowing capacity: $165000
Savings: $18000

I know i could buy something and hang onto it for a while but i want ot get moving and make money! So these are the options I can see:

1. Buy a property in WA that is positively cashflowed and hang onto that. I would still be able to borrow from the bank, but most of my savings would be gone and I’d have tos ave again for at least a year or find a money partner for other deals that I don’t want to hang onto. RISK: at the end of the lease it might be hard to find a tenant as vacancy is as high as 16% in some of the areas with positiv cashflow properties.

2. Find a house to renovate and onsell (I have been doing that with my partner in the hunter valley/nsw, however he is not available now) I would have to do it all with tradespeople and i have been running the numbers and it just doesn’t stack up – VERY INTERESTED TO HEAR FROM ANYONE WITH EXEPRIENCE OTHERWISE

3. Make lots and lots of offers to find a house that i can lease option from someone and then find someone who wants to lease options it from me. With this option i wouldhave no money in the deal which sounds appealing but as you know it’s much harder to find people who are willing to do this.

4. If I do option one, or anything where i’d hang onto the propertym then to keep going wit hbuying property, I woul have to get the owner to carry back the deposit so that i just have to come up with the purchasing costs…

Any insight or advice is much appreciated!

Regards Bec