@Account Closed I don't have much to add to these excellent points above. This price point makes going for a four unit all the more crucial, seems to me. With more units, you are insulated from having to cover the entire debt service yourself when you carry vacancy. Are rents out there equally as high? It is a mental jump to think of going to a 500k property, but if the rents can support that, then you should be ok. As you know from your reading, for a $500k property, the 1% rule says that you'd want to have a rent roll that equals $5000. If the units in a fourplex would rent for $1250, then the price tag can be supported (barring any major capital upgrades). Try not to overpay too much for a property and VET your tenants well. I like www.mysmartmove.com for this. <you can make applicants pay the $40 fee to apply; you just need their email addresses to send the link and the website provides a recommendation as to whether to approve them>
Additionally, I am reminded of @Joshua Dorkin's advice that within an hour of most major metropolitan areas, opportunity can exist at a lower price point. If you're working from home for the foreseeable future anyway, this could be a great launchpad to your portfolio. This is very exciting; best of luck!
(Regarding my comment of 'overpaying too much': we can sometimes get obsessed over a particular number and not going above it. At the time I bought my first property, I got pretty emotional over having to cover my own closing costs because I was bound to an FHA appraisal within the 6 month period from a previous offer and the lender wasn't going to go above that. One of my close friends, after patiently listening to me rant and rave, finally said: "Well, do you want the property or not? You're flushing $1,400 down the toilet in rent at the moment..." which snapped me right out of it. I covered my own closing costs and my financial life changed the very first day I collected rents. All of this to say, I was pennywise but pound foolish at the time.)
