It was written before the days of YouTube, so it's not full of the common nonsense where authors sell a course, send you to their website for downloads, or write a follow-up with additional "secrets" they forgot to put in the first book.Long-Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene was another good one.

If you aren't, there are other options that don't require those.

There aren't too many areas other than HCOLs that support current rates in terms of debt service, so I would run the numbers with a generous ~15% cushion. 

You can make it work pretty much everywhere, you just have to get a little more creative.I know the dream is to only live there for a year, but with putting so little down, most properties right now aren't cash flowing enough.

Sure, I'd love to win the Mega Millions and have millions of resources to make certain decisions, but the reality is I want peace- in knowing obligations aren't something to worry about. 

Zillow and other tools just aren't going to get you very far.hope this helps

For those still wondering why mortgage interest hasn’t moved down alongside the Fed’s recent rate cuts, check out this WSJ article: If the Fed Is Cutting Rates, Why Aren’t Mortgage Rates Falling?

You want to look for uneven multifamily houses to house hack so you aren't wasting bedrooms in your unit and so you don't have to room hack.

If you aren't going to assume the loan as discussed in #2, then you could do a "Subject To" deal where you just take over payments BUT that is really only good for the seller if they are facing foreclosure.

The numbers are hard to make sense if you aren't familiar with them.