Would like to invest in a Rental Property

[Silas B.]

New Here! I am looking for advice or wisdom - here is my situation. I am in Northern California I would like to purchase a rental home to provide some additional / passive income. I am very handy so a fixer is okay if its mainly cosmetics (floors, doors, trims, paint, etc..). Able to pay cash.

1) Should I be looking in a highly populated area (which tend to be expensive with lots of rentals already) or a lower populated area? (50K -100k population?

2) How should I set my maximum price based on the rent that I would receive? Any tricks to this to make it worth it in the long run?

Thanks so much!