What the city housing clerk is telling me is that there was a water leak from behind the sink pedestal on the second floor bathroom that has been running for a week. 

I'd second house hacking.

Because you are forcing equity into the house you are sometimes able to pull back out the entire purchase and rehab process to return to your investor then you own the home with just the mortgage.

You’ll need to handle inspections, work with housing authorities, and make sure your tenant screening process is solid.

To set the stage, I'm owner of a short-term rental property in the Poconos in PA and we use a property management company for bookings, maintenance/cleaning, guest management, etc.This past weekend we had a guest booking but when the guests arrived Friday evening the house had no running water, though it had been running fine earlier in the day when the Property manager (PM) was at the house to give a final check and leave the welcome packet.

If you're willing and able, I do recommend the "house hacking" strategy which is just a fancy name for buying a rental property and living in one of the units, because you'll get very favorable financing - an owner-occupied fixed-rate 30-year mortgage.I'd also say, analyze that property as if you won't live there and it's a pure rental, and make sure the property is still cash flow positive if there's a tenant in your unit because then you'll know if it's actually a good investment.And when you analyze it, include payment of a property manager in your #s because if you don't, and doing so would make it go cash flow negative, then you've just bought yourself a job because you literally can't step away from managing it without losing money.

Quote from @Scott Vaeth: I purchased a house in South Carolina this past year with the goal of BRRRRing it.

I appreciate the encouragement—I'm excited to learn from and connect with investors in this community.Right now, I’m primarily focused on house hacking in the LA market, but I’m open to exploring out-of-state opportunities later in my career.

I am looking at different loan options but to break even (not having to put any money of my own in the house after the initial down payment) the current down payment required is that much. 

I don't think anyone predicted that.I've always thought for rentals it's better to buy a $250,000 house and hope for the chance it goes to $350,000 than buy a $500,000 house hoping it goes to $750,000.