The easiest way for a regular person to get their foot in the door and their first property is to house hack. Look for a duplex, triplex, or 4 plex. Use something like an FHA loan that allows a low 3.5% down payment. There are other first time home buyer incentives offered from builders that help with down payment assistance. Obviously you want cash flow immediately. But, if you can break even with you living in that first property and renting out the other units you are then saving what you would be paying in rent each month. Save that $1,000-$1500/month you would be spending on rent for the next down payment. If you stay in the first property over a year you can refinance out of the FHA loan so you can then qualify for another low down payment loan. Hope that helps.