It would be best to befriend a local contractor or even help one out on a job to see any differences from your past eight years doing it in another country.

I wouldn't even waste money on it. my friend has had astroblaster since it started early 23' and in the hole with no success yet.

If you find something that works well as a short-term rental, but doesn't work well for you as a home, you'll have money but be dissatisfied when you live there.You don't even need it to produce a profit.

Even if they do have 20 years experience...how do you really know?

Both loan servicing companies and insurance companies can be such a nightmare to work with even under normal circumstances.

When I was in college, my landlord would just walk into the house uninvited without even knocking.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

If there isn't parking I don't even look at the house. 

@Raul VelazquezI would suffix what others wrote by saying that you need to understand that real estate really is a longer term wealth strategy - even though that is what you say you don't want due to your age / starting point.  

I live in New York and majority of the inventory on Long Island is too expensive for even renting.