Appreciation vs. Cash Flow in Bay Area

[Taylor Cu]

Hello Bigger Pockets!

I am a newbie currently living in the Bay Area of California. My interest lies in rental properties. I am working on becoming better at analyzing deals. I’m working to get all of my finances together by the end of next year and hopefully house hack my first investment. As I am looking at more deals, I realize it is a little difficult to find positive cash flowing properties in my area. I thought about trying to invest out of state and was advised by a local investor that the sharks will eat me alive since this would be my first. (Still didn’t fully understand what he meant by that haha). I also read on another discussion that appreciation will continue to increase in the Bay Area and that cash flow doesn’t matter as much. I understand that positive cash flow and appreciation play huge wealth generating factors but I feel like it’ll be hard to find a property with both. What matters more? Getting a property in the Bay Area and rely on appreciation or going out of state to try and find both factors?