Starting with house hacking is a smart move, especially in a higher-cost area.

Quote from @Andrew Swaim: hey everyone, I have a couple investment properties but i have never found a awesome discounted deal, the last BRRRR i did was just alright, i started using deal machine but all my cold calling is coming up empty, the wholesalers in my area have been sending out crap.

Is $50k enough to get started?

I would look at multifamily meet ups in the area to start.

When they started screwing with us last week about appraisals and then having to give them an ‘after reno’ price for the house when they had no idea what we were doing the house to increase its value, I did mention to the partners I thought we’d been scammed.

If you can rehab and refinance (BRRRR) to extract all investment and achieve neutral cash flow you would have infinite return (most of my RE investments have achieved infinite return but the cash neutral has in particular gotten a lot more challenging when the rates rose starting Q2 of 2022).Any money extracted via a refinance is tax deferred. 

These start failing after 50+ years, causing lots of backups and problems.

Have you already started connecting with any local professionals, or are you still searching?

I remember when Lending Home, now Kiavi started, there really wasn't anyone other than banks and private individuals that would finance a new build...and those were hard to find.

When the plumber removed the cleanout cap, water started coming out.