Don't just think of it as a "vacation" rental:One thing that people tend to overlook is the fact that even though a property may not have certain characteristics which would make it ideal for tourism, it can make up for them by being near certain workforce centers, especially medical and research facilities.  

It's going to cost maybe half of the profits but if the house makes sense it may be the only way for you to get your feet wet.Typically, newbies who find "great deals" tend to learn quickly that they aren't as good as they first thought.

The least expensive single fam home in Westchester is $779k and there are no condos on the market but they tend to under $400k.  

And I've found that the folks who reach out to me after lurking my profile and doing homework, etc, tend to have great credit/income/assets/motivation - which makes it even better.

The furniture tends to be smaller in size, so it makes all your rooms look bigger.

Most of the other groups tend to attract beginners.

This is a common refrain from CPAs, and they tend to look at it from only the tax perspective.  

@Timothy Gerdes  I tend to disagree with @Cory Mccarthy on this one. 20% is certainly not the norm in Grand Rapids,  and if you are getting 20% on your purchases then we definitely could do a lot of business together.

May wait till i have roughly 30kish in Savings (tend not to cash out stock and such when buying)

On the plus side, land contract buyers have an ownership mentality and not a renter's (like lease option tenants tend to have).You need to find out which the tenant means.