House hacking is the best tried-and-true method for new investors in my opinion.

But they were selling an expensive house in California and had horrible credit.

Each area has its own rules on how it works, but basically, you buy the house, pay a deposit and agree to rehab the house within a certain amount of time.

I think arbitrage is a great way to do STR with the high interest rates / inflated housing prices we are experiencing now.

I bought my first house when I was 24 and now have 5 relatively small properties in Michigan!

The loan is with you, not with your tenant, so none of that means anything to them - in fact because you live in one unit and it's under 4, if you were self-managing you don't even have to abide by fair housing laws (at least on the federal level). 

@Marcus Stokescan you start with a live-in flip or house hack instead?

Looking at purchasing small 3 BR 1 BA house.

For example if you think the house is worth 200K fixed up you need to pay 100K to afford the hard money loan and rehab budget and still have a profit.

Even if you rent the house for $2,000 a month, you will still lose because of maintenance, vacancies, and the expensive mistakes common with newer investors.You can borrow up to 70% of the equity.