As more people continue to move to Oregon, affordability will also become harder for people.With that being said, I believe that if you find a deal where the numbers on a property work for you then there will be no problem with the new laws. 

I put 3% down on a townhouse that I lived in and renovated, lived there for almost 2 years, placed tenants, and then ended up selling for about $60k profit… This townhouse was really easily affordable for me so I was able to save up down payments for additional rental condos.

He AirBnB's the main house to afford the bills and cash-flow a little.

Right now, I would love to live in a duplex, but I can really only afford 200k.

Crashes begin to unfold when banks get too friendly and loan what people can't afford.

Nothing wrong with hiring an appraiser if you can afford it and need to.

Our profit margins on studios were almost always great (cheapest lease price and easy to rent to short term travelers)- or better yet try finding someone who will let you arbitrage a spare room or basement etc. affordable housing sells fast esp. on Airbnb!

Learning as much as possible while saving as much as I can afford, any tips in the NY area?

If you can't afford the 20% maybe this property isn't for you.

Hard money loan rates can be high, but HELOCs are very affordable in my opinion, especially when you look at historical rates.