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’m ready to buy mi first duplex/triplex for a house hack and wanted to go the FHA loan route strictly for the low down payment of 3.5% I’ve been self employed for exactly 1 year now, but the issue I’m running into is that every lender I have talked to (over 9 lenders now) have told me I need to have at least 2 years of self employment in order to get an FHA loan or any loan that requires under 10% down (even if I made good money my first year of self employment) I have 780+ credit score, no debt, no loans, no monthly payments on anything.

Have you thought about house hacking to get started?

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.

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?

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

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.

Showing houses 30 minutes at a time counts.

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

Lake house, cabin feel, waterfront etc.