A "miserable corporate job to no where" isn't all that bad - health insurance benefits, 401k matching, probably some sort of discount stock purchase plan, stability, lenders like it.

If this is your first real estate purchase I would stay away from auctions, there's too much risk involved especially with where price points are in your market.

You may get better results by purchasing a duplex, triplex, or fourplex.Here's a guide that describes what good cash flow looks like and how to analyze a property.

This allows you to use all of the tax and deferred depreciation recapture to purchase the larger MF propertyA consolidation exchange is where you sell multiple investment properties to purchase a larger and nicer investment property, but you also get the benefit of using all of the tax you would have had to pay to your advantage.

Gain is your net sales price minus your adjusted cost basis (purchase price plus capital improvements minus depreciation). 

Purchase price: $240,000 Cash invested: $60,000 I purchased this duplex in distressed condition using owner financing for $240K and secured a $60K hard money loan for renovations.

But after working with the family, we purchased it for $42,000 and got to work.We had some unique challenges, like dealing with one of the heirs who wasn’t very cooperative and required a payoff to sign the paperwork we needed for clear title.

I actually purchased a SF house with a two story detached garage in a nice area of brockton.

What's the purchase price? 

I've included an example below to help illustrate this.So different lenders have different rates (which do vary even for DSCR loans) but these are factors they all consider.See example below:DSCR < 1Principal + Interest = $1,700Taxes = $350, Insurance = $100, Association Dues = $50Total PITIA = $2200Rent = $2000DSCR = Rent/PITIA = 2000/2200 = 0.91Since the DSCR is 0.91, we know the expenses are greater than the income of the property.DSCR >1Principal + Interest = $1,500Taxes = $250, Insurance = $100, Association Dues = $25Total PITIA = $1875 Rent = $2300DSCR = Rent/PITIA = 2300/1875 = 1.23If a purchase, you also generally need reserves / savings to show you have 3-6 month payments of PITIA (principal / interest (mortgage payment), property taxes and insurance and HOA (if applicable).