I've always been interested in real estate investment and thought it would be a great opportunity here in Seattle, which is growing very rapidly.

(Seattle was sitting at 7%, per that same article)But competition-wise, as a rapidly growing city, Seattle is, like you said, as competitive as anywhere in the USA.

Laws change, interest rates change, and you are going to see tons of these new "apartments" brought to you by all those cranes converted over into condos very rapidly at some point in the next few years.

I am from Grand Rapids and currently have 1 multi family (3 units) and one single family.

My area is growing rapidly and I know the opportunities are out there.

In Pittsburgh particularly, while some neighborhoods have seen rapid appreciation, in general our market appreciates relatively modestly year over year.In terms of an area to live in, it sounds like your commute is an important factor to you.

Hey, I might be buying my first turnkey rental property in the SWAN area in Grand Rapids.

This will give you the benefit of vastly increasing the average age of your credit accounts.After that, your score should increase relatively rapidly.

Renting rarely brings wealth quickly without the benefit of the luck of rapid appreciation.As to your other question of loaning yourself money via a friend to buy a house, I do that every time I buy a house. 

I help my business partner run his property management company, ERS Management, in town, and we are actively managing about 750 units for approximately 75 local, national, and international investors and are rapidly expanding.I always love to chew real estate and help people find investments that can benefit both parties.