New Member to BP - Seeking to invest outside of my backyard (CA)

[John Eid]

Greetings BP members,

My name is John, 37 years of age, IT manager with strong income,  reside in CA with my wife, twin boys ( 3yrs of age) and their 15 months old sister. I've been on BP for the past week or so, and applaud the excellent effort and in knowledge sharing, and the wealth of information available and offered by each of you. I am certainly existed to be apart of this growing movement and grateful for your services. 

 I have several rental properties in CA, however with the market appreciation in the last 2 yrs or so, it is becoming a greater challenge to generate decent cash flow. My strategy will continue to be "buy hold/rent" for postive cash flow, but I think now is the time to see investments outside of CA, thus I've been exploring areas such as IL (suburbs), Gastonia and Charlotte, NC ( I have boots on the ground in NC :), and Memphis. There appears to be great opportunities to own for a fraction of CA investment, yet I am fearful of the rental market and the amount of time the property will remain vacant, including the distance, and type of tenants,  and whether the rental demand is solid in such cities. Unfortunately  I have a tendency to compare all rental markets to CA, which is perhaps is unsound. 

Please share your thoughts and I am certainly open to networking with folks in the same predicament.

Best to all,

John