While there could be avenues to acquire real estate creatively with less cash operating  real estate properly is capital intensive. 

The repayment terms for a 401k participant loan are equal monthly/quarterly payments of principal and interest (typically prime plus 1%) over a 5 year term (longer if used to acquire your principal residence).Please note that if you take a full $50,000 and then pay back the loan, you can't take another $50,000 until 12 months after the first loan was fully paid back.Per the loan offset rules that went into effect with the 2018 Tax and Job Act: if you leave your job and the loan is current at the time you leave your job but then the loan goes into default because you left your job, you will have until your tax return deadline (including any timely filed extension) to make the loan current by depositing the outstanding balance into an IRA (and thereby avoid the taxes and penalties that would otherwise apply).Please keep in mind the multiple loan rules:Under those rules, the sum of the balances of a participant's outstanding 401k loans under a single 401k plan (using the highest outstanding balance of each loan over the last 12 months) can't exceed 50% or $50,000 whichever is less.

While the initial years might not be financially lucrative, the knowledge and skills you acquire will be invaluable.

Quote from @Isadore Nelson: I recently acquired a property with an existing tenant who has been living there for about four years.

All being said, most real estate investors advocate that the earlier you can take action and acquire your first deal, the quicker you'll learn.

This property is being acquired at $79K per unit, a sharp contrast to comparable apartments in the area selling for ~$140K per unit.

If you know where any more notes are that can be acquired for $.20 on the dollar please let me know and I’ll be interested in those that you do not purchase. :-) back in the day and not a big deal flow.. and all land contracts on bare land.. to put it in perspective. :)

So.. can investors still acquire a lucrative vacation rental on the Oregon Coast?

Over that time we have acquired 4 properties, 6 doors. 

The general idea is that you must acquire an interest in real property you do not already own, and since you already own the subject real property you want to build on, the transaction must be structured so that you are creating an interest in real property you do not already own (in fact, it does not yet exist).