@Margrit Lehmann-Beltran Welcome to BP! It is great to see another fellow from SoCal, especially from San Gabriel Valley area. I am only been BP less than a week and I found myself learn a lot by reading the posts.
I agree with Marco Santarelli SoCal is the best place to live in, however, at this point, I found that it is not a great place to invest in (at lease from experience I had so far). I am currently holding three investment properties in inland area. The highest rent to value ratio I can get out of those three properties is only 0.8. I thought that is a pretty good return until the past weekend I went back to Virginia (that's where I finish my college at) to visit my friends over there, I found that you can easily find an investment property with rent to value ratio of 1.2. I contacted @Ned Carey, who is based in Baltimore, MD area, to check on one of the property he mentioned on his site. The return ratio is even higher!!! What I am trying to say is that we need to look for investment opportunities which are make sense to us. What is great about BP is that here are tons of people have great knowledge about real estate investing. They are not only willing to share their experience but also willing to share the opportunities with people who interested.
Wish you the best and have fun!! :D
