How do you determine the right location?

[Mark Nguyen]

How do you determine the location of your first property?

I live in California where the market is really expensive and competitive. If I were purchase my first property, what resources can I use to help me screen locations that would fit within my budget? Thanks

[Darius Ogloza]

Trying to analyze the state of real estate markets across the entire United States is like trying to drink water from a fire hose.  If you are just starting out, you need to narrow your focus of two or three general areas, preferably areas with which you are familiar and/or have friends or family nearby or have some reason to believe are potentially lucrative sources of real estate deals.  Once narrowed, you can start analyzing individual markets in a more granular way.  The standard online tools - Redfin, Zillow, Realtor.com, are very helpful in this respect.  California is a big state.  Are you sure there are not areas closer to where you live that fit within your investment profile?