You need to save money, learn and network.

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

Just make sure you are saving towards those slow months during the peak months, buy a deal at the right price (don't overpay just because its a turnkey STR or you think it will make more money than projected), and look into ways to increase bookings during those slow months with some marketing and operation tweaks. 

Hello @Yooni Choi,While managing an out-of-state rental property yourself might seem like a money-saving strategy, the reality is much more complex.

It is a tough market and there's nothing wrong with taking a breather and waiting for things to stabilize while focusing on savings and education.

Although I saved 20-30k by doing everything myself and learned a ton in the process, doing that sucked up all my time and potentially stopped me from buying multiple multis last year.

That means that you can buy a house on the South side -- identical to one on the North side and in its doppleganger (save race) neighborhood -- for literally a $100,000 less than you can on the North side.

I am using this time to educate myself while saving up for my first property.

Once it is operating, it doesn't require a ton of time, save & except when you have an emergency come up.

If you don't intend to do that right away then do the 20% and save the extra cash flow.