The great thing about living in a high cost of living area is that your salary / wages are hopefully also very high.If you are a new college grad, I would focus the next 1-3 years on increasing your salary as much as possible(gain new skills, new certifications, change employers, etc).Once you make more money, you can easily get in a position to buy a property on a more frequent basis.Best of luck!

Where to find/hire a full time, skilled and licensed handyman4. 

"I was going reply reference your typing skills and overall spelling ability."

Oh also number one skill to develop regardless of the route you take is being able to identify and get in contact with motivated sellers.

No real talent, no skills, no friends that are not being bought. 

. #3: onshoring base-line manufacturing (a) creates more employment opportunities for both skilled and unskilled labor (b) creates more employment opportunities of jobs that elevate and train unskilled too skilled labor  (c) raises base-line wages and benefits via competition for unskilled labor (d) elevates the entire economic chain via more domestic circulation of $ and (e) less exporting of USD #4: stopping illegal immigration defends and protects legal immigration.

You put a 3.5% down payment on a house that goes up 7% in 12 months you just made a 200% return that didn't take any large amount of skill or time.

I did have a good job, but more importantly my parents knew I had the skills to make the deal happen.

They instead lack the skill to do a proper bid.

Even if you are not cash flowing on day one, that's okay (in my opinion), you're not paying the full mortgage on your own, which in of itself is a huge win and you learn other tangible real estate investing skills along the way by simply owning.