If you are limited to those areas for residency, and you choose to keep that job, you are going to have to either a) wait for a couple years and save up a heftier down-payment, b) change your strategy like you said and go for houses further away (do flips, STR or BRRR).Or, if you are sold on the house-hack concept, at some point you might have to look at a different job that allows you to move where house-hacking will work....

Eventually, my goal is to scale into the development world, but in the meantime, I am looking for my first couple deal.

A couple of other folks have mentioned this, but the TREC forms are absolutely available for anyone to use.

I would personally rather be the guy with the lower purchase price and higher rate, but it doesn't help a brand new househacker in the short term. 

My name is Michael Perry and I am brand new to real estate investing.

One way to do this is with brand new construction.

Even if you have to travel a couple of hours, you have a much better chance of finding someone.How to approach a mentorOnce you've found a likely candidate, it's time to reach out and ask.

I am creating an llc with a couple friends as we go into this new endeavor.

For married couples, it doubles to $600.

I got a couple of deals but lost money on the marketing campaign.