If you are going to invest locally I would recommend house hacking.

House-hacking today often has to rely on much greater lifestyle sacrifice than what I personally did 10 years ago, and requires strategies that would make me uncomfortable like rent by the room, or using local laws that allow Short-Term rental only for owner-occupants. 

Connecting with local real estate investors and getting advice from experts can help you understand market patterns and investment techniques.

300 or 400 would be ok for a smaller house.You can provide You Tube TV for cable and local channels so you don't look too cheap.

Also, your small local banks may be a good options; however, they usually go into a 5/25 ARM products. 

I'd start out by reaching out to local/regional banks near the property, and local/regional banks near you, or you can can try to find a broker like me that knows those areas as well.

I think one of the big picture issues is to be frank for the average person the will proably get better risk adjusted returns in the stock market and maybe even bond market right now, so theres so very broad sense in which kind of the whole thing is broadly scammy. however its the hardest time to buy a house since at least the 80's more content or maybe even another site aimed more a primary home buyers, with stragies for that, rent vs buy analysis, much more local coverage etc, it's quite possible if not likley this may just be a lost decade for r/e investing.

Go to BUILD YOUR TEAM at the top of your screen and you can search for other MEMBERS or LOCAL MEETUPS.

Are you planning to invest locally or are you open to investing out-of-state?

Seek advice from legal and tax experts to ensure compliance with local laws and tax obligations.