check out Puget Island  Cathlamet  River frontage  no hotels to compete with very few STR and only 90 miles to PDXprice points lower there is a cute A frame with 100 ft of river frontage and a dock into the columbia on the market now for 615k  3 bd 2 ba upgradedwill sleep 8 easy and will bring 300 plus a night.. with literally zero competition .  301 W sunnysands  check it out. 

The reason for this is that there is outsized competition with your fellow landlord hosts, who are also pursuing nurses, and a shrinking demographic of traveling nurses (cost cutting, covid cuts, etc.)

Tax liens can be very cash intensive and very competitive.

San Diego is a VERY competitive market, so most of the "deals" are found by someone thats not you.

There seems to be this fantasy on BP that has been peddled that if you you buy cash flowing properties with 5% down you can retire in 2 years from your W2 job. 

While many HMLs will not lend to a newbie, the industry is becoming increasingly competitive, so a growing number will. 10% down should not be a lot to ask.As hard money will cost more than your HELOC, you'll need to find a better deal.

The competition around me is 1bd apartment units and other SFH that bigger or nicer than mine.

Less competition and no bidding war.There are many MFHs under 150k in West Boulevard and Jefferson that are either turnkey or need a little TLC.The best way to find these deals is to work with an investor-friendly agent who is working to find these sellers, doing the due diligence on the property.

The biggest problem was that the pricing really starts to get out of whack as you add properties.So while it's somewhat price competitive for 1 or 2 properties by the time you get to 5 or 6 properties it's almost triple the cost of Ownerrez. 

so I get the value engineering these homes to fit the market and competition.