@Dinesh Siwakoti I agree with everyone else and would add this: the potential for wealth growth in real estate investing--especially with $160k to start out with (that could probably be at least three 20% down payments, if you're looking at single-family rentals)--is so substantial, that even if you didn't quite break even by selling your home, it would still be well worth it, in my opinion.

The goal should be a substantial reduction in housing cost.If you are getting into unit where you have some opportunity to reduce your monthly housing cost and gain some real estate appreciation and tax breaks, if the situation is right, why not dive in.  

I share my hard numbers with them and explain that the costs of bringing their properties up to snuff will substantially reduce what I can pay.

And very unlikely there will be any substantial sub-$200K construction in the near future.

In the early years this number is substantial, because you don't have very much equity in the house and the cash on cash return is high.  

I have one that has appreciated substantially over the last 2 years and feel that its time to sell since I don't feel that market has much more room to grow and personally expect a crash ( in California ). 

These short-term goals include: saving substantial amounts of money to be put towards my first real estate investment.

And depending on the position, you may end up learning nothing substantial about real estate.

That can take a good bit of time itself if you're doing a substantial bit of work. 

Always require WRITTEN bids from LICENSED contractors3, Always require WRITTEN comps to substantiate ARV4.