Our actual carriers used to be Secura, but they seem to be getting out of a lot of insurance lines or pricing so high as to have customers drop off, and we just moved policies in Nov. to Hanover Insurance. 

As a result the property, based on capitalization rates, can now be sold for $450,000.  

A lot of people tend to mingle these things when they talk about "break even" or "cap rate", but that leads to a lot of confusion.Let's use some real numbers which may be easier to understand. 

I was talking to a RE friend.He said it's a bad time to buy* rates are high* homes are expensive in most marketsLooking to hear some counterpoints. 

Or a personal loan if interest rates aren't cost prohibitive?

prices are high, interest rates are high, there is tremendous demand for inventory, and - one thing that doesn't get mentioned enough - a record number of properties are debt free. 

I goal is to find a market that has good appreciation rate with good to decent cashflow but out of the two appreciation matters more to me.

We own the mortgage company so the rate was below market as always.

many houses in the midwest, for example, are very old and need major rehabs.i personally think out of state investing is more difficult than advertised, and much more difficult in the current investing environment, with: prices high; interest rates high; tremendous demand for inventory, by both investors and retail buyers; and good PMs, contractors, etc. booked up.here's a really thoughtful thread with the experience of another CA investor and lots of different responses:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/12/topics/1215726-break...and here are some threads about how it can very easily go wrong:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1159104-overl...https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/963/topics/1195280-expe...https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1160450-run-i...https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/1137397-balti...finally, you also said you "don't have a lot of money to start with." 

He's got the #1 investor podcast in your area, his property management company is first rate, and he's a great guy.