There are many ways to buy cheap elsewhere but still lose your shirt. 

Definitely with study, makes no sense to cheap out.

Part of my issue was not having a reasonably priced handyman ahead of time and eventually overpaying to just get it done and also inexperience as a manager.With that said, you essentially have two options: very cheap properties in less good areas (you're looking at 100k or less--which you might have trouble getting a good lender for)  or trying to do some sort of house hack (e.g. live in flip, live in rent by the room, multifamily) where you budget will be closer to 200k-300k.Personally, I would not look at real estate until you are maxing out your 401k and IRA, but lots of folks have done significantly better with real estate than stocks and would think I'm crazy for suggesting this.

You are just throwing money away and will eventually fall victim to squatters.

It throws a major wrench in the eviction process.

Every month of the year has nice average weather.It certainly is not cheap to live in San Diego (fortunately that is no longer an issue for me).  

I like small units (they don't trip breakers) and they are cheap.

It's cheap and doesn't give them your house address.

Ditch the cheap shower surroundPlease don’t buy that cheap five-piece shower surround that you saw at Home Depot or Lowe’s.

If you want to talk to a good agent out in that area I would reach out to Jen Day @Jen DayI would also check facebook marketplace in case someone is looking to sell and just throwing it up to see if they get any traction.