However, I currently work & reside in LA and have done the math as well as talked to others it does not seem "smart" to invest in property around LA nor southern California for that matter, especially if I want to house hack It ruly have no desire to live within the property I purchase I want to treat it as a business more so than anything else. 

Just to make the math easy.. and you want 20k a month in cash flow  ( reasonable number the 10k a month is old news no one can really live on 10k a month these days)   at least on most of the coasts.. 

Steve I would suggest NOT including prepaid taxes/insurance in your math.

I've not yet done the math to determine which strategy would save me more money, but the big cons of this areNo primary residence, therefore slightly higher interest rates, 20 - 25% down (but depending on the market, this may very well be equivalent to 3.5 - 5% down in LA).Depends on the quality of tenant screening, but it's probably safer to assume that they won't take as great care of the property as I would.Probably need a property manager, professional or tenant.Either strategy seems to net me the same cost around $1,500 monthly, but I'm biased towards Los Angeles as I can rent to friends which solves a lot of the tenant/landlord issues.I'm not looking for anyone to give me all the answers but would appreciate any insight, food for thought, and constructive criticism. 

Originally posted by @Jerry Starr:https://www.realtor.com/news/real-estate-news/u-s-rental-rates-flatten-major-cities-supply-floods-market/ U cant have a million plus foreclosures that were mainly bought by investors and put into rental service.. developers building new apartments and not start to create a over supply issue.. that's just basic math.. so really depends on population and job growth in a given msa to see where rents go or stabilize or shrink.

He has two personal homes in LA valued at 45 mil total, idk if that is in the math though.

Basically, I do the math from the proforma / property plan to make sure everything is paid and that the reserve account is up to par then distribute the rest to the partners initially. 

If you are not in CA there is something wrong with your math.

Can anyone provide reasonable math?

You’ll also start learning the math and how to run the numbers.