For example, I live in Gilbert, AZ, which isn't exactly the cheapest place to live, so if I begin to look for a house here in AZ are the lenders going to want to see 300k-400k$ in liquid assets for me to get approval for a mortgage (as the homes in my area are around 800K-1M)? 

I have been on BP a long time and maybe about eight years ago , a person had a small chance of finding a posted house for sale here that can be flipped.

Lake house, cabin feel, waterfront etc.

I had a similar strategy with my first few house hacks: buy in great A & B Chicago neighborhoods....get by with minimum cash flow, and wait...What's your plan for the next purchase Michael?

Have you thought about house hacking to get started?

Showing houses 30 minutes at a time counts.

Hey Daisja - we host a monthly Real Estate meet-up with different topics on a monthly basis at the Brier Creek Carolina Ale House on the third Thursday of every month from 6:30-8:30.

House hacking and multi-family properties are great ways to start in real estate!

Found the deal myself on redfin after house hunting for several months.

We plan on living in the house and doing most of the fixes and renovations ourselves.