Considering buying a property - first time

[Jeffrey Kay]

Hi all, I just signed up for the forum and had a few questions. I have always been interested in real estate since I was younger (I used to play Robert Kiyosaki's board game) and the notion of passive income always came across.

I am trying to understand how it all works, especially for those in my situation. I live in Vancouver, Canada, which has one of the highest prices for real estate in North America - think San Francisco equivalent. The average price for a detached home in the city is 1.64M ($1.25M USD). It is basically impossible for anyone here to afford real estate except for wealthy overseas investors, those who had houses handed down to them from their parents/family, and the top 1% of income earners. 

Right now, a decently desirable one-bedroom condo downtown is $2,095++ per month on an assessed property value of 800k and a $4,500 rent for a 2bd 1.8M property. Absolutely ridiculous. I bring this up because I have read posts where someone will buy a duplex/multi-plex for 90k, and live in one of the parts. The idea is that the rents will cover the mortgage and other costs, right? It seems absolutely impossible anywhere in Canada.

That also means financing might be a little difficult. That being said, I have around 50k USD saved up ready to go - so I want to know if it's even possible to use that and get $1k+/month cashflow on the table. A REIT might get me 10-15% (and index funds less), so I am trying to find out if buying a property would provide a better return on that money without too much risk and additional effort. Thank you!