@Sin Hang Lai Thanks for the advice and lead.

Here in Chicago the last thing you'd want to do is have to deal with a winter vacancy, but LA is a pretty decent sized market with a lotttt of renters. 

If you believe in the long term appreciation of LA (I do, for the better areas) then I’d keep it, rent it out long term (only to qualified tenants to minimize risk) and pull money via refi when you can and need it.

One person suggested a detailed zoning study, which is typically performed by a zoning or land use expert, including attorneys, land use planners, or architects.They pointed me to this link - https://lawyers.findlaw.com/la...I am definitely going to talk to a few of them, but my property is a small under $1M property and I feel that using these big law firms is an overkill and they will charge me an arm and a leg, after all I am not preparing for a large project.Any tips on doing such an analysis myself?

LA is a difficult market to start in because it's so expensive.

Investing in multifamilies in LA is really about realizing that market rent potential.

If the property is here in LA, I have a great agent who handles my rentals, and know another at State Farm who does it for our syndication group.

SD, like LA, is a strong market with high appreciation.

Quote from @Jeremy Lai: Hey Erik, not sure how others do it, but I can break down how I do it.

South LA is an obvious answer, but that depends on your comfort level with the area.