What are cities a new investor can get his/her feet wet?

Come to think of it this is the exact technique now taught as “wholesaling” by numerous Gurus.MMM – With inflation this is now 5MMM.

@Bian Dahab  the floor guy told me if  after you put a wet paper towel on it you can 't see it then you can buff and coat it.

@Justine Phillipson: I've been researching turnkey options as a way to get my feet wet in other markets, get some experience with some positive cash flow, then dive into other aspects of investing that we enjoy. 

I have been very pleased with my investments here and have helped numerous investors purchase in Corolla and all over the Outer Banks.  

I look forward to getting my feet wet in the real estate world and joining the community!  

On the same note I have tried to get her to invest in other properties with me and she is terribly risk adverse and just can’t stand the thought of having her name and credit being attached to a large mortgage even though I have explained numerous times about how the bills and mortgage payments are made by the rent payments. 97% of the time she continues to be supportive of me pursuing the real estate on my own and has been supportive of me retiring from my job to pursue it full time.

As a landlord with numerous Section 8 tenants, I can attest that participating in the program can be a great way to secure reliable rental income.

I'd encourage you to find them for some perspective to contrast the wet blanket mess I'm about to drop...In my personal experience, the only reason it made sense was b/c I was able to 100% loans for the purchase, with interest rates less than 1%. 

This may be time consuming, but it's most certainly a lower risk way to get your beak wet than syndication or flip funding or some other arrangement where you'll have to place your trust in others, plus I would assume that syndication/flip-funding deals in your area of CA would also have higher capital requirements than other US locations anyhow.