@Angie Guifarro I bought investment properties first and now house hack a duplex I picked up along the way.

We have an opportunity to pick up a lot and are wondering if it's cheaper to just buy a duplex/4plex that is already built and fix it up instead of building one from scratch with the current  construction costs being so high. 

Try picking on the low hanging fruit first, "Pre-foreclosures" you already know they are in trouble.)Would also “drive for dollars” by biking and running but only in my local neighborhood here in Northeast LA.

All this time and energy spent vs picking up the phone, calling tenant and saying "Oh hey, curious where all this is coming from, kinda caught me by surprise".     

Or can you pick up some additional contiguous land for cheap, and put your retention basin on that land?

Picked up a few things here and there, but also spent a lot of time reading, researching, listening, and asking a ton of questions.

Can’t do that with stock picking.  

You would think the City would give me some slack since I just fixed an absolute eye sore out of my own pocket but they went through last month and picked the entire place a part.

If so, this is the quickest way to get investors to stop opening your emails and picking up your phone calls. 

You have found the deal which is the most difficult part especially in todays market. 20k saved is awesome and although not enough to pick this up, I would continue saving up.