Throughout my career, I have consistently conducted business with integrity, transparency, and the utmost professionalism.

I think the real estate professional strategy works if it is your primary source of income.   

California prices are really unaffordable at the same time the state has consistently had outmigration of native residents for something like a decade and even negative population growth recently whereas Texas has grown substantially. 

Real estate is not the stock market and it's called buy & hold and not buy & sell for a reason.I did sell a few properties about 10 years ago when I learned the hard way that going into cheaper neighborhoods was not the right strategy for me, so that was basically a strategy correction and it was necessary, but also costly both in terms of dollars and time.

Investing in out-of-state properties can be a great strategy if approached thoughtfully.

I enjoy hearing about peoples’ personal wins and innovative, creative strategies.  

Or is it better to utilize different strategies?

I'm still trying to find what strategies might work for me.   

., $700) to cover this, or are there other strategies for handling utilities in this situation?

., and you should find some local investors with whom you can connect and learn their investment strategies.