For family life, there are great communities with good schools and a lot of kid-friendly activities.

If you're a single mom with student loans, a car payment, and living paycheck-to-paycheck, then $20,000 would be devastating and a reserve is critical.

To be honest, I´m in the Maintenance & Construction for corporate businesses for some US companies in Mexico and we do some Real Estate down here also, but it´s way much different than the US, so I have much to learn from a lot of people around here and as @Julio Gonzalez, I think this is pretty much the right pad and place to start and to break my fears to start all over again from scratchAlso, I´ld like to hear more from @Justin Brickman why he voted for his city, pros and cons, it will help to read from a local...As I said before, thank you all guys for taking the time to write in this post and share some experienceDo you plan to owner occupy. $40k will not get you a non owner occupied San Diego property unless you find some unlikely alternate financing.

This sounds like a home run and a great first purchase!!

And as you diversify, remember the power of your network.

Starting with a single-family home in Kansas City is a smart move, and it sounds like you’re really digging into the numbers, which is super important for making informed decisions.From what you’ve shared, your offer of $140,000 with an 8% interest rate and a 20% down payment seems like a solid starting point.

Since I’m still in school I don’t have much money, I’m trying to learn as much as I can about real estate so that way once I get a job out of college and a steady income I’ll know what to do with my money.

Overall, you're spending $25k in extra costs and a monthly pmt that's $500 higher to keep $50k in your bank account. 

Thanks in advance Community for your feedback, any and all feedback and a time you take the chair of your thoughts is very much appreciated.

I've done a lot of research on this topic as both an investor and as one who assists other investors in exploring this strategy.