Newbie needs advice on 500k

SWIM (literally) has inherited $500k and is learning about property investing – FAST.

Advice sought/thoughts on whether to buy Property 1 outright and use the equity to buy Prop 2 and 3. OR Split the 500K across multiple houses and get mortgages. I am old school and look at debt like this. For every dollar the bank loans me I pay them back 2 and so I personally think Option A might be a better strategy….BUT what would I know? I’m a newbie to this and any advice I can pass on would be very much appreciated.