With $20k in savings and an additional $4k monthly saving rate, I'm navigating my next steps carefully, especially since I value starting with a substantial equity position in any deal.Here are the options I'm contemplating:Invest in a Low Entry Property: With my capacity for a 20% down payment, I'm considering properties in the $100k-$120k range.

My loan has bounced around a bit but is now with Western Alliance Bank at a rate I don't want to lose.

Or in other words, the rent received from house hacking would cover our housing costs (mortgage, property tax, insurance, repairs, utilities).Upon research however Oahu seem to be a high cost and low cap rate area similar to SF where we currently live.

Low interest rates contributed to this mindset, making it easier to cashflow.

I am patient that living off the cash flow would come a few years down the road, as the loan is paid and rents gradually go up and or rates go down.

Since we cannot buy local (cap rate in CA is pretty low), we are exploring different markets. 

There will be punishing late fees and probably a default interest rate.

Can't imagine what the current rate is for that but it's a great way to pull out probably a lot of equity.

I have seen some great deal in and around Dayton as well.This year will be a good year as rates start to come back down we took a little hit last week but should start to drop by 2nd quarter.  

But if you're buying from normal sellers (i.e. not banks or institutions) you can use the inspection to justify a resolution of unacceptable conditions and have them fix a few things or get a price discount.On fixers, they likely won't give any discount, but it's also very important to know what you're getting into.