Unless, we have some other financial catastrophe (created by the US as the last one) or based on Geo-political upheavals that we help cause, but ultimately don't control.

your tax's are probably based on owner exemptions.. so WAY tax's on a 125k home in Texas or Houston will only be 700  a year more like 2,000 plus a year...

Thank you for the amazing feedback and guiding me, based on what you guys have told me I don't know if I want to invest there, still need to do my due diligence before I do anything else. 

He's based in D.C., from NC, and very sharp.

@Dwayne Jones Appraisals are one of the most frustrating parts of my business - but it is an imperfect science and a lot of it is based on personal judgement, so I understand it.

We have done a tremendous amount of research to date, but are hoping to find some folks who are already succeeding to lend us some wisdom in exchange for shameless food based bribery.We have a solid background in property rehab and estimating and one of us knows a little about the law, but we could really use some advice from those of you who were actually able to stop researching - and start investing.Are there any investor-friendly agents or investing pro's out there who would be willing to set up some time to chat?   

I am looking for anyone who has worked with any lenders in Nc. Specifically Raliegh and Fayetteville areas.

If you would like to be added to my investor data base I would like to hear from you.  

Another side note...www.airdna.co will generate a report for a specific area to tell you whether or not it is a good Air BnB investment based off of the analytics of all of the other Air BnBs in the area.

I have only one property that has not had my initial investment pulled out.If you want initial cash flow, So Cal may not be the place to invest but its measured returns have surpassed virtually everywhere else in the US (so claiming somewhere with sub $200K properties has had higher returns than So Cal is not based on facts).