If you're in the wrong place at the wrong time you might as well be in the São Paulo slums, Caracas, or pretty much anywhere in Africa. 

Sabrina, I may be slightly off putting, but, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, this kind of ad should be in the Market Place.

The right/wrong choice can make all the difference.

If you're thinking about scaling in terms of multi-units then I think you're asking the wrong question.

I'm not trying to play the innocent victim, we did some things wrong and have learned our lesson.

What went wrong?

You have little control over any events if the project should take a wrong turn if you are in second position.

On the wholesale side it sounds like a lot of work for less than $1k.Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe owner occupants get first look on HUD properties and are allowed to finance them.I would strongly suggest taking 5 or 10k of that 20 and doing a targeted direct mail campaign.  

Way too little money for everything that could go wrong....holding costs, insurance, buyer can't get financed, etc, etc.

I do not own any homes yet but want to buy a MF home where I can live in one unit.Doing a search on Trulia, Zillow, MLS, Realtor is not giving me much, so am wondering whether I am barking up the wrong tree for this market.I would love to hear from experienced investors in these areas what would be the best strategy for this area.