My friend has $30k to invest in real estate. 

@Robert Kough, I have a friend that does exactly this: buy plex, live in a couple years, after some fix up and market appreciation, refi with conventional, freeing up VA for next purchase. 

I used to work for a guru in the apartment investing space, I learned a lot and we became good friends. 

just trying to understand as my friend is trying to do that same situation...

Your significant other is very likely to remind you of this on an increasingly frequent basis. 

Sounds like you have a LOT of exciting things going on right now.This question gets asked pretty frequently, and the best advice that I've heard, and that I can give, is that you should definitely start NOW. 

You find them by networking (family, friends, BP, REIA meetings, colleagues, referrals). 

As far as some general criteria/thoughts:- My workplace is in the Cobb/Vinings area and I would ideally like to be a < 30 min drive to work (though I don't mind if its up to 1 hour away since that is my current commute)- I'm interested in using a FHA loan to put ~5% of a down payment (3.5% down pmt + 1.75% upfront mortgage insurance premium)- My target all-in purchase price range is between 200k - 400k - I would prefer to live in a 'A' or 'B' class property that I could rent another unit to a young or established professional/college or grad student- Just from discussion with my friends, a lot of them seem to dig living in areas like Midtown, Buckhead, Virginia Highlands, Brookhaven, Lindbergh.. how feasible would it be for me to househack in any of those areas and expect to generate a decent return in the future once I move out and rent out my unit?

Hello BP friends!

Their pricing structure is not as friendly (at least the last time we evaluated it) which is part of the reason why we switched to Dotloop.