A little patience and properties often hit the market with lots of hidden value opportunities 

The forums are a free marketing channel. 

I am starting out in my real estate investing journey and was hoping to see if fellow investors recommend pursuing short sales, banked owned properties and foreclosures, versus pursuing typical MLS properties or off market properties with distressed properties or sellers.  

I'm focused on building up the down payment now and trying to identify a good market(s) to invest in at the moment.

Which market is the best?"

As is typical with government intervention into the public markets, the intentions of this policy achieve the opposite.

I would love to talk to someone that has experience on this market and could tell me a bit more about it. 

I'm glad to hear ou say "invest in my local market".

waiting and saving capital to purchase when the markets better?  

We have a weekly STR newsletter called BiggerStays, which you can access by going to the settings, notifications, and marketing emails section of your profile.