As far as the hot market, I think you'd be glad a few years down the road. I bought my first duplex at a great price as an FHA, lived in it for several years while it appreciated rapidly. Now I rent out both sides and am very happy with the cash flow and the equity. But tying up my hard saved cash as a young investor- it took quite a bit of time to be ready to make the next move.
So I'm saying think about what your next moves will be, and how you can put that 20K to work in a way that it starts coming back to you soon.
On another note, when someone tells you something is a "bad idea, " take that with a grain of salt. You can find plenty of successful OOS investors here on BP. You look at the strategies available to you and decide what you can be successful at.
Best of luck to you.
