Does anyone have suggestions on how to afford a down payment on a more expensive area of Austin, and build up that down payment within a year if possible?

Build up your capital/cash reserves, buy your first 2-4 building to house hack (3.5-5% down), rinse and repeat.You're in the right place to connect with local investors and you can also attend meet ups.

I would work to build up more money for stability and learn the market over the next few months.  

I don't go around tearing down other families to build up my own.I read that stuff of Don's also.

I am working a couple of deals to flip to build up the cash reserves that would be needed for a larger than duplex multi-family. 

If the school situation and neighborhood are ok, bringing your family there for some time to live for free and build up cash is a great move.

@Matheus Souza work on your savings first, get those funds up, learn more and build up that foundation, and then build your portfolio on top of that foundation you set while building your funds

The idea was to build up slowly and learn how to manage bigger numbers so like duplex to tri/quad maybe another quad.

I know it won’t happen overnight, but I’m committed to putting in the work and learning along the way.My plan is to start with fix and flips to build up capital, and then invest into some long-term buy-and-hold properties once I’ve built a solid foundation.

This was in King Co (Seattle) and was a real pain in the butt for years.