At a bare minimum, you better have a mechanic you trust who can vet them for you.

Barely any friends or family during that time.....

My wife would have us in a big fancy house that we can barely afford (and definitely couldn't get ahead with) if it were up to her.

I should have been more clear, so with vacancy/repairs/capex all set to 5% each of rent per month for a total of 15% the numbers still barely cash flow up to $50/month.

 Back story is: lease expired and sent tenants in advance intent to raise rent (was barely breaking) they decided to extend only 6 months at current rate. since then, i just got a job offer to move to Atlanta.

We found someone selling essentially a "bnb in a box" We literally bought just about everything you would need to furnish an airbnb, roughly 6 months old (barely used), high end Austin stuff.

I want to know how to be able to acquire the initial investment equity (20% down payment) to buy at bare minimum price and sell. 

Even making around $150k, I can barely afford a condo here.

But what struck me as so unusual and striking was everyone was so shocked that my older daugher had no college debt.Grandma lived till her late 90's, and $600K would barely sustain her retiring at 60 as her social security came to a few hundred dollars per month and a small pension.

I have found that 600 is normally the bare minimum for me personally.