California Or Out of State????

[Jason Holtzinger]

Hi BP community, Please keep reading through this intro to get to the guts of my question.

I have decide that I am going to purchase my first multi family property. I purchased my first home in 2012 and held for 8 years in the north bay and came out very well ahead after purchasing my next home in the country. Now I am after cash flow specifically and am looking for a minimum of $200 per month after expenses for my first rental property. I am not as concerned with appreciation as my goal is to buy and rent and hold and repeat. I currently run a construction company and through our business we are comfortable and are able to do pretty much everything we want....at the cost of 80 hour plus weeks for me. My goal is to eventually have enough rental income to not be so reliant on my construction business for all our income.

Now we are on the hunt! The problem is finding a deal in the North Bay of CA that cashflows is insanely difficult. Finding a deal that cash flows without buying for cash seems near impossible do to the large loans needed to purchase the crazy priced properties. after some research of other markets,we could buy a property for cash in Detroit metro or Columbus outright and cash flow on month one.

I really want to invest locally since I know the state very well but just cant seem to make the numbers work.

Should I stay in the hunt or move on to a different state that is landlord friendly and has properties that can actually be purchased with a reasonable loan or for cash?

Thanks!