I am still personally buying rentals but I am not expecting much in the way of cash flow at the moment.

If you make the person an LLC employee you can get around it, but partner does need to be careful. 

Personally, my primary residence has appreciated around 6% in market value and I live in Levittown. 

We will shop for used appliances where we can when we need one… or pick up used cabinets if we can, or search eBay for something smaller,  but going to the extreme of personally shipping something big in internationally for one-off renovation needs seems like a stretch of reasonable.Just like you mention, the number of unknowns would not seem to be worth it to me.Just my 2 cents.Randy  

Yes I have known it to work because the owner is not a push over, enforces policy and can make it run good......however, do you have the right personality to do this, AND if you move out can you continue to have the house run smoothly with no one in charge.  

Personally I like the Section 8 program when the property is located in a super poor area with a ton of blight and crime.

I would imagine Long Beach is complicated to get into the STR game but I don't personally invest there so not sure.

I personally started in my local real estate market in Columbus Ohio.

Due to the current interest rates, you probably can't live for free, but you can definitely learn how to house hack in that first year, reduced your personal housing costs, learn the rent by room/co-living strategy on-site, and then probably break-even after move out, but most importantly, it is possible to make that work in 2025 with today's rates.It just takes being open-minded and willing to be flexible for the 1st year.  

@Jason Weidmannit's only solid if:1) you pick a market that you can go to in person and build a team first, and 2) you recognize that RE is a long-term investment, and you may have to wait 5-10 years, or longer, before seeing ANY return.