What should I buy next If I want to scale.

[Patrick Thomas Dickinson]

Ok bigger pockets folks. Give me your opinions. 

The time has come. I officially have my Pre Approval letter for a loan amount of 450,000$

I also have 200000$ to put as a down payment on something. I also have reserves of about 50,000 to 100,000 that I want to keep on hand for my current properties and future properties for a rainy day. I have already made a post similar to this about a month ago and I got some great feedback. After seeing everyone's opinion I went back to educating myself more and spoke with numerous people that know more about real estate than me. 

My goals an concerns with them: 

Cash flow vs appreciation: I own a property in Brentwood California ( high demand appreciation market) I never have issues with replacing tenants I had 50 applications last time I listed the house for rent. Ive been able to increase rents every year because I know I can and people will pay because its a fairly desirable area. I also have a house in Conroe, Texas it generates decent cash flow every month but appreciation is fair at best because of where it is, I had 3 applicants last time I placed it for rent and I have my reserves of raising rents in fear of tenants not being able to pay a higher amount. My point is it almost seems like the better play is to bight the bullet, buy the house or multifamily in the better, more expensive desirable areas  ( appreciation markets )if you can afford it. In the end it seems like you will win in most cases if you account for appreciation, less headaches, easier to increase rents every years and less vacancy. I know cash flow is king and it kind of messes with your head when your barely breaking even or even in the negative on a property but If your a buy and hold who has 20 to 30 years in the game like I do, who really wins in the end the cashflow team or the appreciation team. 

,Future financing: buying in areas that generally appreciate quickly would seem to open up more future financing options for me with future homes. IE doing cash out refis on these properties that have increased in values. I just did this on my California Property and I would like to repeat the process in the future. Lets say I bought in a strictly cash flow market and brought in and extra 500$ per month on the property meanwhile I am getting very little appreciation on this property. There goes my cash out refi option. In my mind it would take years to save enough cash flow from other properties to have a down payment on further properties unless you had a lot of properties generating a lot of cash flow for you.I do want Scaling Fairly quickly so I know blowing all my money on one  appreciation property could hinder that process?? any thoughtsCreate enough cash flow to replace my w2 income within the next 15 years which would be about 8000$ per month net in todays dollars , ( I know someone would tell you typically buy as many units as possible in the midwest or some big cash flow market to do this . After doing some research this seems misleading to me, are the cash flow folks really winning in the end of the game.? Or do you buy in markets that maybe you don't see cash flow for a couple years but your end game looks better long term. 

With this thought in mind any recommendations on areas where I might be able to achieve this goal. I know everyone everyone wants cash flow and appreciation and I know you have to pick one usually but where can you get a little bit of both. 

I am currently working on analyzing deals daily in Texas, trying to increase my potential leads and  speaking with/vetting potential property managers right now. 

I JUST WANT TO EXPRESS TO EVERYONE THAT IM NOT LOOKING TO GET THIS ROCKSTAR AMAZING DEAL UNICORN PROPERTY THAT TAKES ME 6 MONTHS TO FIND BECAUSE I HAVE UNREALISTICS GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS. I AM JUST LOOKING FOR SOUND LONGTERM ADVICE  BASED ON THE CURRENT MARKETPLACE WE LIVE IN. 

(If you had my finances what would be your next move with my goals in mind. )

Conversation starters:

Multifamily if so where/ what markets and why

Appreciation vs cashflow in todays world, is It better to look long term ?

If I want to repeat my buying over the next 10 to 15 years how to set myself up to avoid future financing hurdles.