My goal is FIRST to gain experience in the field by listing and selling people's homes for them as a Realtor, and using the resulting income to invest into lower-end condominiums and townhomes (with a buy & hold strategy built on cash flow.)

yes...and studio condominiums in a/b central SF locations are going for $700,000 +/-$88m for a tech mogul's house....still A LOT of coin.  

In just one year and a half, I've seen prices skyrocket, new humongous and luxurious condominiums are being built everywhere and the few rental properties I find off the usual real estate apps seem to be either dumps or, when very attractive properties, they are bought out almost immediately by cash buyers.Should I then start looking further out of the perimeter?

If the 8 units building is part of a condominium, where the buyer has 25 units... the equation changes dramatically.

Hi All, My primary residence is a condominium that may be "deconverted" into apartments.

I advised that the condominium corporation had strict height and weight limits for dogs.

My firm specializes in the Private Equity space raising capital and structuring joint ventures for residential condominium development projects.

So many of them default, which puts the HOA at risk of bankruptcy.Amazingly, we received a letter last week from the HOA board:"Pursuant to a properly noticed special meeting of the owners of Skier'sEdge Condominium Association, Inc., the Condominium Project was declaredobsolete and the Board of Managers was authorized to sell the CondominiumProject.

You're interested in two condominium units in the building as it is in an up and coming Metropolitan area with a pre-construction cost of $350,000 each requiring 20% down.

Unless you are very aware of how condominiums operate and are expert on a particular project, you are better off avoiding for now IMO.