Is it better to invest in my area that has sky high prices or invest in other markets?

[Shayne Hastings]

I just recently moved to San Francisco and was curious with the home prices being so high here, is it better to look at other markets (Atlanta, etc) to invest in or continue to learn the market out here in the bay area and find those diamonds in the rough?

I would love feedback from anyone who has done investing from a far just to see the pros and cons of it all. 

Cheers!

[Joe Bertolino]

4 plexes in the Central Valley can match the cash flow you find in the Midwest and South east with more upside and being less reliant on a property manager if the property starts having issues. I know hundreds of self made millionaire RE investors in CA. I don't personally know any self made millionaire turnkey investors. I am sure they exist but I don't know them. I know a few people that tried to buy turnkey properties in Buffalo, Toledo, Cleveland, etc where they got stuck with $25-50k pigs that bled money on repairs and turnover while the PM made their money before offering to take the headache off their hands for less than they paid for it. The locals love keeping the best properties while pawning off their crap properties to "some rich guy in CA". Maybe I am a cynic but I just don't see the upside. I took a trip to look into it and it gave me a different view on places like Fresno, Stockton, Modesto, Merced, Yuba City, Los Banos or Atwater. Those towns are not very nice by CA standards but they are lovely compared to Toledo or Buffalo in the winter.