Pacific Modern Homes is a great example - we built one of their kits in the 1990's and it was beautiful/ really minimized labor and scrap onsite.

I send a message asking if everything is good with the house and we leave a nice treat in the fridge from a local German bakery.So after 10 years we get a response like " The house is beautiful we appreciate the attention to detail and thank you so much for the treat"This sets the stage for a 5 star review.

I want to start my REI journey but I wonder if house hacking would be the best option.At the moment I have about 30K ready to invest.

Housing prices in two of our larger cities (Vancouver and Toronto) are also crazy high (eg $1M to buy a starter home)...actually in Vancouver proper at the moment the cheapest home (single family, not strata) is $1.2M...surprisingly (to me) in Toronto the cheapest home on the market is $650K (ignoring some listed for $1 as clearly there is a catch).Our mortgages work differently than in the US, and what we get for rates are only locked in for 1-5 years (typically) and then we have to renew at whatever the current rates are. 

I’m hopeful going into this slow season  because I have traction and great SEO optimization but can’t give any sort of projection at the moment. 

Some of our renovation were cosmetic rehabs , many full gut rehabs and some in betweens but we always went one step further to make certain the property was beautiful and in full compliance with section 8.

My best deals weren't beautiful, but had good bones and upside potential.Run your numbers carefully.

I’d love to get your input on my options.Background:Age: 34Location: San Diego, CACurrent Living Situation: Renting a beautiful apartment across from the beach for $3,200/month.

A year or two feels very long in the moment, but it can make a huge difference. 

For the moment let's leave out what I paid for the land, because it will vary and in any event it is easy to subtract that amount at the end.