Ryan, I always recommend starting something new by reading and learning about how it works. There are lots of different ways to do real estate, but it takes extra knowledge and creativity to do it when you don't have cash for a down payment.

I provide some resources in the following article: https://medium.com/datadriveninvestor/you-can-invest-in-real-estate-heres-how-fecbd1c2318b

This is a good place to start to understand how it works. You will find other resources that focus on wholesaling and other types of ways to make money in real estate, but you have to replace cash with hustle and knowledge to make it work.

It could be renting out part of your house on Air-BNB, it could be buying a duplex and living in one side, it could be getting a finder fee for finding deals for investors that do have money (called wholesaling), or just finding investors to help you raise money.

I give a brief overview of the foundation to get ready to invest in real estate here: https://medium.com/makingofamillionaire/you-dont-have-to-quit-your-day-job-to-get-rich-f634a111733b

Bottom line is that you will either need some money or some hustle to make it work. But people do it every day, so you can too if you commit to learning how and then put your learning to action.

I hope this helps, and let me know how it goes!