His use case was a couple of unleveraged properties in southern CA one being in San Diego and the other in Riverside county.  

Asking to anyone who has experience, knowledge or connections in these southern texas markets, how has this or does it affect your real estate strategy and returns? 

While I could write a whole dissertation as to way, I have no appetite to enter into a kind of discussion in which too often egos become prevalent over helping one another.What I would do if I was in your position is to ask about investing in the US to somebody who actively invests there and ask about investing overseas to somebody who actively invests in Europe and the Caribbean and then draw your own conclusions.

In Southern California, we have amazing appreciation (both in rents and in home values), which you can later leverage to buy properties out of state.

I live in Southern CA and have a few properties in Cahokia Heights, IL.

There are many reasons that adding a single ADU in southern CA is a less than ideal RE investment (i will post a list at the end) but the negative initial equity is a primary reason as the initial negative equity position consumes the initial cash flow and can take many years to recover.As for converting your home to a rental….

Some solid areas to look at are:Riverside, Avondale, Murray Hill, San Marco, San Jose, Orange Park, southern part of west side, east Arlington, pockets of the Northside.I’m on my phone so a little tough to go in great detail, but you can message me and we can find a time to chat if you’re interested.Chris - thanks for the reply.

I’m not located too far from you - I also own an investment property in Southern NJ.

Lots of "wild west" (pirates of the Caribbean?)

It’s still a worthy strategy to force cash flow that’s rare to find in SoCal, especially if you can reduce the cost of construction by doing a conversion/using an ADU grant or even buying a property with an existing ADU In general, even if the ADU valuation matches your cost including grants, they are usually not worth it in southern CA in single family zones.