Not able to buy in this area without going house poor.

They've gone as far as writing algorithms that pull data points like crime rates, age, median income, number of coffee shops and hundreds of others to create heat maps of where to buy.  

I'm a 20x AirBnb superhost who realized I have more productive uses of my time than hosting directly.

However, you could buy a property with seller financing.

House hacking is often promoted as the easiest way to get into real estate—buy a property, rent out part of it, and let tenants cover your mortgage.

OK - but WHERE is the Buying or Selling Real Estate "page" or "section"?

Hey Account Closed - I highly suggest  using a renovation loan and house hacking a multi-family if that is possible with your current life circumstances.The 203k and homestyle renovation loans are just amazing products and drastically help you reduce your risk, in my opinion, because you are able to leverage the cost of the entire renovation with such a low down payment loan.We work with a lot of clients who use these products in Chicago, and no matter what, in the long term, they gain great equity.If you aren't able to house hack - the process is essentially the same, but just with more money down with hard money or conventional construction loan.

Best place to start is reading up in the forums, buying a book or two, listening to the podcast and attending your local REIA.

You can buy a SFR to live in for 12 months & then convert into a rental.

We would buy this house all cash.