I'm located north of Houston, Owned a Real Estate Mortgage company years ago.....(retired).  Starting all over from scratch... my gray hair is turning back black....LOL.   I'm focusing on buying and selling mortgage n...

If appreciation and scalability are your long-term goals, consider house hacking or saving for a bigger market later.

Don't buy those types of homes, they will take a long time and not sell for what you were thinking it would sell for! 

It’s worth mentioning that we have been working with same investor for four years and we are fully delegated with them.  

If the market continues to appreciate, holding the property could yield more long-term equity gains.

A 1031 Exchange is possible for your parents’ situation, as long as they reinvest the proceeds into like-kind investment properties.

Would you say Cleveland is more of a long-term play with steady and slow growth? 

We are sending our prayers for those suffering up in LA.

We are going to run it as another bed a breakfast - the same model as the other beach property.  

We have had duplexes with shared water, sewer, and trash billing, as well as shared driveways.The long term tenants act more like owner occupants, planting flowers, etc. and in some cases neighbors think that they are the owners.