New Investor, live in CA - Ready to invest out of state

[Zachary Dorff]

Hello all! I wanted to introduce myself and see if anyone had any insight if you were in my shoes what you might do.

My name is Zach Dorff and I live in North County San Diego.  I've been listening to BP pods for a few years but finally decided to get off the sidelines and take control of my future.  I read Brandon's Rental Property Investing and David's Long Distance Real Estate Investing and feel more confident and ready to start investing.

I've had a good, steady job for 7 years here now and I don't own my residence and have a company car which helps keep the bills down.  I've always tried living below my means (despite CA cost of living) and have saved around $100,000 between brokerage and personal savings.  I also could take a $50,000 loan from my 401k if I was in a pinch.  Although it would have been great if I'd gotten started years ago, I figure there's an advantage to having this much money liquid when starting.  I'm guessing ability to scale/buy a 2nd or 3rd rental quicker perhaps?

I got pre-approved for $200,000 in AZ and spoke to a realtor in Phoenix who started sending me SFR but nothing was close to meeting the 1% rule and when I ran them through the Rental Calculator most of them barely broke even.  So I started looking at cash-flow markets like Indiana and I'm liking what I'm seeing from that perspective.

In terms of my goals, I would really like to increase my cash flow. My W2 handles my bills with some leftover for savings, any cash flow I can create from RE Investing I'd plan on reinvesting in the next property. I am a little intimidated with the idea of forcing appreciation - Obviously the benefits sound great but as a new and out of state investor, my initial inclination is to buy something at market value with limited problems and somewhat rent ready and start cash flowing asap. I am single with no kids, so house hacking sounds great but not so much in San Diego. I have put in for an out of state transfer, but my family is near and I don't know if the job will be as flexible and able to commit time to RE in another area with another boss.

Think that about it sums up!  I thought that some people with experience would look at my situation maybe as a unique opportunity because of the job and financial position and maybe I'd get some good input or advice.  Any advice or input is appreciated!