Start with your primary, rent out any spare bedrooms "house hack"Use that to practice upgrades, kitchen, bathroom, curb appeal... etcNow you have experience as a landlord and flipper, use that to buy a distressed propertyAdd 40% equity to the property through home makeover, refinance into a low cost mortgageNow you are cashflowing a healthy margin on a second property, use that to build equity over time, cashout later and buy your duplex/quad.If it's going to take you 10 years to save up a down payment for a small apartment building, yeah it makes more sense to start growing your portfolio with cheap SFR flips instead.Every market is different, every borrower is different, every property is different, it would be ill-advised to recommend anything without recognizing the individual's nuanced goals and objectives with their next acquisition.

Let us know how you make out. any descent landlord should immediately recognize the hazard to their own property and help to fix.  

I think your income easily justifies a common-sense, time-proven method: increase earnings, reduce expenses, save, and invest.

Recognize that going out of state will come with a lot of learning and education; there's a cost for that of your time and if its better served educating out of state or spending it on the property.

More conflict, less desire to recognize he value of my experience and resulting success  He started a rehab Dec 1 and left to Europe today.  

If you consistently analyze properties, recognizing a good deal will be much easier when it shows up.

If he is nervous about taking the leap and it seems that he is since he is asking advice from this forum, then rental properties are a great way to supplement your income and provide a proven pathway to wealth and/or entrepreneurship.  

I feel as though it is still very early times for Bitcoin and you won't find many if any lending institutions that will recognize Bitcoin in that way.

Recognizing red flags early are key to staying profitable.

You can find plenty of markets where nobody builds and you won't get competition but you won't get bookings either because there's no demand.It has been proven that, with short term rentals, it's the really professional hosts that make the bulk of the money (think the 80 - 20) rule.