Your total spend might be like $1,500/year on everything from brokerage to MLS to boards.

I AM NOW USING MY 9-5 TO PAY OFF THE PRIVATE LENDER EVERY MONTH WE ARE SET BACK FINANCIALLY BUT THE future IS BRIGHT ! 

It's a big decision, and I recommend spending some solid time in each area.

I have $25K cash for a down payment and can add $20K/year ($1,600/month) toward payments.No W2s, I've looked into building a small home right away and using a bank statements loan (have about 8800. monthly income) , but with 9%+ interest rates, it’s beyond my budget.Is there any sort of creative financing ideas possible or private lender possibilities?

This greatly helps me to be location independent and spend good amount of time in India.

Here are the numbers:$30k - avg monthly income3 options for rent vs buying$12.5k - avg monthly payment (20% down) on $2mil home$6.25k - avg monthly rent on $2mil home$6.25k - avg monthly payment (71.5% down) on $2mil home3 options for return on capital:7% - avg yearly return on 71.5% down payment (assuming 5% avg yearly appreciation in SD)10% - avg yearly return on from S&P 500>10% - avg yearly return on investment property (just an assumption, but I think you are all here because you beat the stock market)First, the $12.5k monthly is very intimidating and beyond what I should be spending on shelter (a no-go for me)

People who think they are going to spend a few hours per week and make a $1000 is not reality.

@Ben LeybovichI think in the perfect world, new investors would spend enough time and energy learning how to analyze properties themselves, what the various calculations mean, etc.

I would spend some time working on the formatting to make it as simple as possible to understand for a banker or buyer.

Any feed back is welcome