And don't forget, you only pay for what you draw unlike a hard money loan where you are paying interest even without spending a penny on the rehab yet. 

Some kinds of auctions allow you similar protections as a traditional sale.

-Legal Protection: A real estate attorney should draft the seller financing agreement to make sure your interests are protected.Final ThoughtsThis might be a pretty awesome first project if you can work out some sort of low-down, seller-financed deal with sweet terms.

Why would you take your cash, and spend it on a property you don't need to spend it on, instead of using that cash to increase your properties,...and income.

I took out a Heloc I owe 230k on the house and I plan on spending 100k updating making my total in 330k.

I feel like a condo would allow me to: 1) Get experience and my foot in the door with little capital.2) Protect me from getting wiped out by an unknown capex expense.3) Potentially house hack.4) Not feel bad about burning money on rent. 

I believe Lead Mining Pros charges $200 a week plus however much you want to spend with Facebook to run the ads.

This approach would allow me to learn with each deal and minimize initial risks.2️⃣ Go Straight to Multifamily: Instead of starting with SFHs, I could spend time learning the multifamily business and go directly for a 20+ unit building, maximizing scalability from the start.I have no experience with either strategy.If you were in my position, which strategy would you choose and why?

It's only dead if you are spending too much on your purchase.  

Just need to spend a year somewhere I may have no desire to live.Hybrid Plan:Keep researching out-of-state markets and act if a great deal appears.Move back to LA, live in Airbnbs in to get a feel for neighborhoods (open to suggestions), and house hack once I find a deal.Would love to hear from those who’ve house-hacked in LA or NYC or started with out-of-state rentals—what would you do in my shoes?