.: Quote from @Tim Delaney: That seems odd to me assuming you aren’t in a highly negative cash flow situation.

I have about double $80K actually, in cash, just sitting in a high interest savings account until I figure out what to do with it.

However, if you have the time and prefer to source properties on your own, I would highly recommend the following strategies:Connect with probate attorneysVisit property auctions: These happen monthly and, surprisingly, aren’t saturated with investors.Cold callingTarget LLC owned properties: Over the years we have seen an influx of companies purchasing SF for rentals/long-term holds and they failed to account for property taxes and an increase in new construction coming to the market.

Yes - you should be able to find some good DSCR Loan Options with 20% down easily - 15% down potentially available but the rates/requirements are pretty high on that front right now

We paid ours off when our balance was $125k, but on a 15 so payments were fairly high at $1732 PI.

Given your residency limits, the high prices in NYC and surrounding areas are a challenge, but there are still options in neighborhoods further out within your allowed range, like parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

For instance, someone making $500k a year and living in a very highly appreciating market might be extremely happy on a deal that loses $200 a month but is getting 5% appreciation on a 2 million dollar property in San Diego, butut that doesn't make sense for the investor with 30k and a lower paying job.When it comes to the book series I agree with you that the order doesn't make sense (having read both).

Adjusting for it allowed him to realize his property’s ROI was still positive but not as high as initially hoped.

@Lisa Eisenhauer thank you for your detailed response Lisa.my hesitancy with titan is that they are a nigerian bank. and my hesitancy with solera is that the are pretty new small bank. given how small banks that have failed in the past, i feel more comfortable with going with someone like chase. here is list from fdic of recent failures: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/resolutions/bank-failures/fai...however, since i ran into problems with chase based on what i described in this post:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1150830-bank-...i wanted to know  who i can go with. so i called solera, firstly the person who picked up transferred me to an IRA LLC bank specialist. when my call go transferred, the specialist was i guess working from home and had a crying baby i could hear. that was my first uncomfortable momemt. i don't accept that from a bank. maybe a small retail company or something.secondly, i asked her if you know how an ira llc bank account is set up and i want to make sure it's set up correctly so i have some questions i'd like to understand your process. she right away asked me who is my document provider. and i was like, what is a document provider. she asked who set up your llc and i told her i did that. she said well we usually work with document provider because it's not a typical llc and is set up differently.i assured that the my llc is not an issue, i do  have that set up properly. it is manager managed. i am the manager. my ira is the 100% owner/member of it. then she assumed that my ira is with solera. and i told no, i have it at another custodian, all i want to do at solera is to set up a bank account. and what i want to know is when you open an account at your end, in the bank account who do you put as the owner of llc. she told me well it's a business account that llc owns. and you will be the manager on the account.and i told her, yes, i already know that and that's how it is currently set up at chase. the issue i am asking about is who will be listed as the owner of the llc at your end on the bank acct.. it should be "xyz custodian fbo shaz...IRA" and it should NOT be me. she goes. llc will be the bank owner.i think i had to repeat 3 times that i am  not asking whether or not bank accout will be under llc. i am asking in filling out your paperwork for opening the bank account, does it anywhere ask who is the owner of the llc and if so, who will you put. she goes, oh we dont' mention that anywhere but if you did have your ira with us then we will have "solera bank ..custodian fbo shaz...IRA". 

Purchasing a new primary and turning my current house into a rental and looking to hire a PM but some of the fee's seem high. 1 quote - 100% 1st/month rent if i self-manager, or 75% 1st/mo rent and 10%/mo for PM to manage.Again, im new to this but from reading and talking to people there is a typical finders fee ~1000$ and 10%/mo rent if the PM manages.