A great way to get started if you currently have a W2 job is to buy a house hack like a duplex or a fourplex where you can move into one of the units and continue to rent/manage the other units.

I started off with house hacking a duplex in Malden a few years back and have been able to acquire 14 more units since then.

Quote from @Jeff Roth: Hi Lina from Texas-Congratulations on your interest in investing in mid-term rentals and you are wondering how and where to get started.I get this question frequently from investors.Sometimes and investor is looking to keep their property cashflow positive as insurance and taxes have squeezed cashflow by turning units into mid-term or short-term rentals.First off, ideally, the property will cashflow as a long-term rental should something disrupt the mid-term rental model.You will also want to have the property be near where there would be a demand for mid-term rentals (hospitals, universities, research centers).Monthly rents for mid-term rentals are about 20% (+/-) higher than unfurnished similar long-term rentals.There are property managers that will manage mid-term rentals for you and I always advise my clients to use property managers to keep their investment as passive as possible and for compliance issues related to Fair Housing Laws and local regulations.To Your Success! 

Deal 1: 4 Plex (it's stripped down to studs, a guy ran out of money on the rehab)Purchase price 160k, Rehab 80k, Total all in: 240kExpected Rent: $4,000/month to $4,400/month depending on how quickly we want to rent the units out. 

@Lillian Pintaro,Birmingham’s a lucrative market—it’s been my stomping ground for nearly 20 years, and you can find some excellent deals if you know what you’re after and dive deep by zip code, neighborhood, and city block.For what it’s worth, we manage 2,000+ units (many for out-of-state investors) mostly in the north and west part of town—so think suburbs outside the city limits like Graysville (35073), Adamsville (35005), Mount Olive (35117), Center Point (35215), and the like.Since you’re also open to the surrounding areas, places like Odenville (to the east) and Tuscaloosa (to the southwest) could be worth checking out.

I really would want to stay away from any office properties in depressed or even semi-depressed neighborhoods, especially large ones (like a 13 unit complex).

This is regardless of whether the unit has been renovated or not.

Live in one side and renovate that side, then after the lease for the other unit is up move into that one and renovate it.

Was the condo a good size unit and in good condition?  

The good thing about this is you can do a parent listing offering the whole place, as well as 2 other listings for each unit.