As for the area, looking for an area where the rent will cover the mortgage.

There are a ton of great neighborhoods in the greater Sacramento area, where you will see solid rents and good long term appreciation.

For the high cost areas like Palo Alto it is difficult to get a property to cashflow out the gate because rents have not caught up with the cost. 

the majority of even my national users are looking to keep cash in reserve and as such are looking to landlords to finance that TIA as additional rent at a return premium and then that extra rent bakes off in whatever term is negotiated. 

Live in one room, rent the other three for $2400-$3000.

While the math per door is roughly the same, my thought is that I will have more doors still rented while I renovate one, and the overall costs for maintenance is roughly the same. 

Are you looking to house hack by living in one unit and renting out the others?

We are more so interested in fixing up and renting these properties, so flipping in a short amount of time wouldn't be something we would need to worry about.

Raising Rents - Renting by the Room What was the outcome?

Rents have increased significantly but so have housing prices.