All this summer every booking has been last minute, within a week or so of the stay, so it's obvious to me people are still just sitting on the sidelines looking for the best deals since there's so much supply out there.I think it will start thinning out over the next few years - I've seen a few places in my own community that I know were STRs that have been sold as owner-occupied (hard to make a 4/3 STR work down here when you're paying $450k or more), so as that starts to happen more and the building pushes even further out into the hinterlands I have hope for the future.

It typically takes several years for a building to finish and start generating income, and market conditions can change over that time.

It's the best way to start and keep relationships.  

Rentals create cash flow, and that's what we want as real estate investors, but you need cash on hand for unforeseen circumstances.The AC needs to be replaced, that's $7K to $10K or more depending on the size of the house and if you have one rental, it will eat all your cash flow, same to replace a roof, etc, or if tenant trash the home, you need money to fix it again.To me personally a nice rental portfolio that is healthy consists about 10 units, so if you have an issue with a house the portfolio can cover the repairs and still healthy, but when starting you need to have cash on hand just in caseYes, there are multiple strategies you can use to hack your way to buy your first rental with minimum cash, but I would start wholesaling or fix and flip a few deals to create that cash as fast as possible

I have been been on the fence about what area to start this journey, I live in San Jose California.

For a typical duplex or triplex, insurance can range from $1,500 to $3,000 annually, with flood insurance adding $600 to $2,000+.I’d suggest starting with a thorough market analysis to get a better understanding of the neighborhoods you're interested in.

I actually moved from El Paso to Las Cruces just to start my real estate business.If you're still interested in the market let me know ✌🏽

The goal is to avoid surprises, understand what challenges may be present, and what impact the results of inspections may have on our future operations of the park.Inspections - If all of the above checks out, now it's time to start spending money on paid inspections.

Here are some local meetups and groups in the Portland Metro area that you might find helpful:Local REIA Group: A solid place to start for networking and learning as mentioned by Melissa!

Start with BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide (free).