Now you see how expensive dining and living rooms are that could be converted. 

I would like to enter the landscape of real estate investing, but the area I live in has a barrier to entry with regards to cost.

I agree with the others here that say you need to have some skin in the game, if you are going to live there yourself, get an FHA loan rather than owner financing, you can get a 3.5% down loan, personally I do not love these as they require  PMI which is an additional expense, and you also need  bring additional funds for closing at least for taxes, title, attorney and transfer fees . borrowing from anyone else for the down payment, to include a personal loan from the bank is not a good idea, those again will be higher int. rate.

It's a small rural area about 3 hours S of Anchorage- not exactly a hot RE market, but we love living here and my husband has a fabulous job with about 12-15 years left in his career. 

basically if anyone has any tips when it comes to researching plots of land in order to make the right purchase i would greatly appreciate it get with a realtor. we underwrite land at no more than 10% of after built value. in our market we build under the average new build value which is about 515k. we like to be around 420-450k and smaller footprint about 1500 sq ft with attached garages. we build close to urban core where everyone wants to live and net migrations match up. but suburban is fine. if you give more context I can help but in most markets land is a buyers market. most people aren't looking at it or buying it. 

That being said, there’s nothing wrong with investing in blue collar areas but I prefer to invest in the ones that have a higher degree of owner occupancy because the residents of those areas care about where they live and have deeper roots.  

Hey @Jerry Nogueras - I was in your shoes too, born in NYC, and lived between there and Long Island. 

JeffWe lead a couple investor meet up groups in person and live stream about the Central Ohio real estate market.

I think I'll start out where I live and probably branch out outnof state once I build my knowledge and experience. 

Hi Vinay, I own multiple properties and live in Columbus.