My mom made me get my real estate license when I was 18 but I went into corporate America after college and didnt pursue real estate until much later.

The goal would be to travel a little more full-time and maybe live in Europe or Latin America. 

Also reach out to the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA).

Typically you will want local credit unions, small banks (not the Chase's or Bank of America's), google private lenders, etc.  

Crow Collateral Corp. aka ( Monetized Installment Sale) v. the United States of America?

Welcome to the United States of America where people get junk mail. 

Look at cities in the 20-100most populous in America.

We are typical W2 workers in corporate America (at least for now).

I think SoCal is pretty awesome personally...we visit pretty often...love hanging in Balboa Park...beautiful scene...nothing quite the driving the 1 up the coast...last time there we drove LA to SF on the 1 and immediately starting looking for local RE.Hope to see the ADU restrictions lighten up soon...that's really the key to starting to bring our housing markets into balance...there really is no such thing as a housing shortage...dwellings exist in every 2-car garage in America...and definitely a win-win if you can build on your own parcel in SoCal.I think at the end of the day it's the barrier to entry...for most guys starting out with $50k in capital, SoCal is not on the list of places to look.Oh, and don't forget about Lake Erie ;) 

Super easy.Eastern CT Savings Bank, CTFigure 80% on a rental, not in LLCFinance of America, 95% CLTV, second home only, 680 FICO, not TXFirstBank CO and AZ 75% LTVFirst Florida Credit Union FLFirst CommonwealthFirst Midwest, IL up to 90% Chicago areaFirst Tech Federal.