You don't have to spend a fortune and buy a house directly on the beach to do well, but your starting price point for a viable option in this market is around $350-$450k for a solid 2-3 bedroom oceanfront condo or around $500k for a 3-4 bedroom house within walking distance of the beach. 

Write it up to an education, spend some time sharpening your support team (particularly in the trades) and start thinking about how you can do it again!

Hi, pre foreclosure in all of its permutations, before the bank sends Notice of Default (NOD) or efter which is state even county dependant but often starts a 4 week clock till the trustee auction are the 2nd most difficult deal scenario and IMHO only experienced investors should bother, the 1st most difficult deal scenario are bidding at the court house steps on lord only knows what is being auctioned off sometimes even 2nd mortgages, you need to do so much home work to attempt to reduce your risk at the court house steps...Pre foreclosure no one talks about these issues, always about the nice sounding stuff like "motivated seller" get a good deal etc etc both are usually not the case.- 95% of folks in pre or post NOD want to stay in their house, keep their house inspite of them 100% will loose the house at the auction. 

BUT, the time to START acting is likely now.

Quote from @Jamie Parker: Quote from @Luka Milicevic: Quote from @Jamie Parker: Everyone gave great advise, I would not use 70% when you start to get to the granular numbers.

Hello Frank, I think house hacking a small multifamily property that you buy with a low downpayment is one o the best and lowest risk strategies that you can get started with.

Quote from @Chris Lin: BackgroundI started my journey with REI Nation (formerly Memphis Invest) in 2019.

@Darrius LloydTo start your house hacking journey, research neighborhoods with potential for multifamily properties and balance affordability with tenant quality.

Quote from @Brendan M Hornung: I reside in Southern California and started my investment journey in March of last year by purchasing a sub-to single-family home in AL.

However there are lenders starting to roll out a 15% down option.