Purchase price: $2,400,000 Sold a single-family home and did a 1031-exchange into a 5-unit building at a cheaper price.

The market in Scottsdale is cheaper than the Seattle market to buy, however, the rental market is a bit higher, so we would likely be renting for around $6k-$7k/mo. 

But as far monthly payment you could easily buy a house in a cheaper location have less roommates and the same monthly payment or the same number of roommates and a lower monthly payment.

I used to cold call, skip trace, send mailers, and don't get me wrong you will get success from it like James above, however as you gain experience you will realize you need deals faster, easier, cheaper, and with more "meat on the bones" and in order to have that you need constant deals flowing through your eco system and that's hard to do with mailers, cold calls, VA's and skip tracing etc.

There is the inconvenience factor but it might be cheaper for you and your friends as well.

Instead of focusing on move-in-ready rentals, consider fixing up a cheaper property (BRRRR method) to add value and boost cash flow.

There are cheaper one’s in D/F areas but I would be careful as those can create a laundry list of additional issues.

They may be offered at a cheaper price point relative to the coasts but that doesn't mean that those neighborhoods haven't seen population growth and appreciation.

Instead of living in an RV, I would look into house hacking in a cheaper state and starting your real estate investing journey there! 

Too many newbies seem to think they can blindly follow "old" advice in today's real estate market and be successful.Many, basically get taken advantage of by those in the industry that have an incentive to keep newbies blind to new realties, just to keep their good times rolling.What many newbies have figured out is that they can't make the numbers work on rental purchases in their states - like California, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Washington, etc.What they have NOT figured out is that if they go to cheaper markets, they aren't being shown Class A rentals to buy.