If I can do this my case will be much stronger for a private lender to give me money in exchange for moderate returns on their money in the form of a note. 

The other California investors with more moderate incomes bought years ago and have built wealth from 30+ years of appreciation and small mortgages and their rental income supplements their pension or Social Security and retirement accounts. 

Rent growth has flatlined and will probably only moderately increase over the next 12 months so it really comes down to NOI growth from renovations and whether it will outpace the 3-4% negative return on cost that the properties are currently seeing.

Moderators have no clear guidance on when to suspend or ban someone.

When going before public meetings with your proposals, drug, alcohol, and half way houses for former incarcerated, receive the most scrutiny.

Focus on small multifamily properties with moderate rehab potential.

The moderators have since cleaned it up.

If you see someone violating the rules, create a post with "@moderators" and we will receive a notification and respond.Again, welcome to BiggerPockets and happy investing!

If the prices work where you are, I think with your experience, you could go right into a four-plex and do fine, especially if it was light to moderate value-add because of your knowledge and connections.

Hey All our next REI meetup will be on December 1st in Pocono Lake, DM for more info (previous email with link was removed by moderator)