Good luck "By the way I believe you can succeed in both markets (high cash flow/low appreciation & low cash flow/high appreciation) but best odds are if you are intimate with the market."100% agreed and there are many ways to skin a cat (Sorry to the animal activists) hahaHaving the intimate market knowledge as you mention and an end goal will keep an investor on the path forward.Time is a beautiful teacher and will eventually reveal what strategy was best.Much success

I don't know what's right for you, and with the online resources today being able to manage remotely only gets easier and easier, but property management is still a very labor-intensive business on average, and I would guess that eventually, a problem will pop up that you wish you weren't the one that had to deal with it.

I’m interested in expanding locally this year for fix and flips, but eventually want to look out of state for long term or short term rentals.

We would eventually move into the second property and establish it as our primary residence (6-10 years from now).  

I can see this principal applying more broadly to AP subject you are raising, but also as the STR legal landscape develops (and the end game there seems to be eventually heading towards a more unified policy and even constitutional argument in front of the Supreme Court, in my opinion) - this may apply very readily to a sound legal strategy for STR protection? 

I recently purchased a primary home in LA County Sept 2023 (only put 5% to do renovations and have an interest rate of 7.25%; I rent out back unit when we are out of town and intend to rent out main house eventually).

I’m interested in GUC eventually in  a few years.

I can't believe how many owners go for months with no communication and no payments, and then they eventually find out the tenant moved away, and the rental is sitting empty.

Looking to grow equity to eventually create cash flow? 

Possibly i'd subsidize the tenants and make the increase when they move because the market will eventually increase rent to catch up with the higher property taxes.After making all those improvements, I would lean towards the long term and try to get as close as possible to break even now while at least slowly increasing rent enough for the tenants to cover the property tax increase.