In my opinion, there are not a lot of strong parallels between CA and IL and the income-to-housing ratio not as dire here as it is there.

For the folks making $300k + I suppose there may be ways to 'get ahead' - however in your case that much take home and so little savings to show for it, as well as prospects to invest there in NYC being dire at best for someone 'starting out' (in real estate, anyways) - means you should take a hard look about getting out of the area - at least since you're on a real estate investing site.If your pride can handle that, read on!

My situation is not as dire which I can afford a down payment and have not an obliterated credit.I’m intrigued with the using debt to increase wealth and I’ve got all my ducks in a row but just needed some questions answered.Unfortunately I’m no longer eligible for VA benefits due to an issue involving my ex wife(typical Jody story), although I just need to quit being lazy to just square away the issue since a certain has already passed.

I have found a great property in dire need of repair/rehab.

Plan is to do carpet/paint type rehab, lease it, then refinance.I am going to use 15% of the building as my office and lease out the rest. 4 of the units are small-ish so they are pretty strait forward.

We find out that our heating system was in dire need so we take out a small home equity loan to buy a new heat pump and a brand new oil force air funace as a back up system bought all new had new duct work put in. 

But doing so can have dire financial consequences.

The GC has walked off the job and I'm in dire need of finding a reputable, fair-priced GC who does great work to finish the project in a timely manner (before winter hits), ideally in the next 4-6 weeks.

She was in a pretty dire situation and I was able to get her what she needed.

I was already looking when I learned my grandmother was in dire financial straights, negative cash flow and in a reverse mortgage, someone needed to step in, cash her out of her equity while allowing her to continue to live there.