When I asked him where he gets his deals from, he said wholesalers, word of mouth, and bigger pockets.

In Berlin, rental arbitrage has been very profitable, with average annual margins of 25-40% after all costs but before taxes, so shifting to a market where arbitrage is barely breaking even is definitely a reality check.Given your experience, would you say the best way to enter the market now is through purchasing properties with financing?

I also have connections where I source wholesale deals and pocket listings. 

Curious where you pulled the information from? 

They tend to be the ones posting religiously on linkedin the benefits of garbage investment strategies in order to continually feed their business and have poorly drafted operating agreements often with side letters that are really  only necessary to hide from their lenders where their capital is coming from. 

I'm planning to use that money for a downpayment  to buy a multifamily where I would live in one side and rent out the other side. 

I have found a wholesaler where I can get as many as I want for nothing.

I hear this even in popular podcasts like Thanks for Visiting where they recently have been interviewing very seasoned, successful MTR hosts and keep asking 'but what about the risk of squatters??'

Hard to do in the beginning but that's where I feel comfortable. 

But at the end of the day, I'm not going to let taxes dictate where I am going to buy real estate...it's probably best to just look at things like job growth, population, stable economy, etc.