There’s a smaller hospital nearby and a large one the city up but I don’t think the nearby ones cover the point you’re making.

STR is a hospitality business first, and a for-profit business second (if you want to succeed).

I have lots of experience in all types of single-family investing, small partnerships in multifamily and commercial, and a vast knowledge of construction.

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.

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

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

Starting out, single-family was my go-to—easier to manage and a great intro to the game.

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

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.