I moved to North Virginia from NYC and saved my money. 

For the rest, I scraped together savings and maybe skipped a few Starbucks runs (okay, a lot).

You literally have to invest in something that will lose value, in the hopes of saving on taxes."

What we do to make up for it is create a private bedroom listing to hit a different target audience to fill in some of those vacancies.

Then compare that to what you’d net by listing it as-is—factoring in the time you save and the carrying costs you avoid by not renovating.It might seem straightforward, but once you dive into the numbers, the difference between renovating versus selling as-is can be surprising.

I know the "survive till 25" crowd was banking on interest rates going down to the 4's or low 5's next year and that was going to save these deals.

A good real estate accountant can save you thousands of dollars by leveraging entity selection and formation, tax deductions, cost segregations, bonus depreciation and tax planning.I recommend finding an accountant who specializes in real estate taxation, business taxation, financial planning and tax planning.You may want to consider working with your accountant remotely to expand your options.I would also recommend looking for a accountant willing to work with you throughout the year.

There's options for checking and savings accounts as well as virtual accounts for each property

If the rate is reasonable then it may make sense to try to save fast to get to the 3.5% down payment on a double or triple - househacking may allow you to increase your savings rate and pay down that loan even faster.As for estimating costs, closing in NY factor at least 1% of the mortgage amount for tax, plus $1500-2000 for lawyer, title and fees, then the amount required by the bank for escrow will depend on the actual property taxes and insurance.

Quote from @Rodney Davis: They presented themselves as private lenders.