Getting started with 30k from NYC

[Danny Kaminsky]

Hey all!

I’m trying to buy my first rental property now, and I would love to house hack, but I have to move to Manhattan for my job, which makes this trickier. I’m from Chapel Hill, NC, so I’ve been thinking I want to buy in that general area, but with only 30k cash it seems unlikely I’ll be able to go in with 20% down and make big improvements so I can get my cash back out. What would you do in my situation?

(For reference I have a reasonably stable, well-paying W2)