It was a large house, old.

When starting out if real estate, you pretty much have no choice but to either join a team or join a large brokerage that offers hands on training.

The only better theoretical move is to build a large entrepreneurial business in the meantime.

Further, Detroit was running a large net in migration.  

I was in a similar situation when I first started ( mortgage was a large chunk of my salary) Thankfully I had friends that I was able to rent to that basically paid my mortgage and eventually my income increased enough where it was not an issue.what area of Denver are you looking at?

My parents, being wonderful caring parents, purchased a large house in cash for little money through the family trust for us.

In the Great Recession, I saw large cabins selling for 25% of what they sold for just 2 years prior.  

In terms of strong markets, I tend to look at major industries in an area (hospitals, universities, military, etc.) because I want a large tenant pool.

Both require a large down payment (50% or more) and it seems will not finance land/new construction.

As you note, there are good large syndicators and there can also be bad small syndicators, so it’s also a case by case evaluation.