I am a busy man, sometimes more than others, as we all are.I come in here to help others when I can.I make no money from this-and making money is my primary focus.That and handling the responsibilities and time consuming tasks that go with it.I also lead a very comfortable life full of friends and business acquaintances that take up a great deal of my time.

If someone posts something negative about me that is not true and I request them to retract it and they do not, they will be getting sued for enough that they will never consider doing it again.  

You can learn to do this independently or get a rockstar REALTOR to lead the way.

I am a first-time investor and am looking for a location (hopefully) where I can get decent appreciation while not having the risk of crazy negative cash flow (like one sees when doing the math on opportunities in Seattle, for example).

If you pay more, you won't meet your metrics and will probably have negative cashflow and/or equity.You may have to make 10, 20 or even 100 offers to get one accepted at the price that meets your numbers.

Which leads to other posters to offer no sympathy for those investors and then the name calling started.

@Chad Verdesorry if this comes off as negative / discouraging but rates are high so this is likely what i call expensive money.now on the other hand, if you can do a cash out refinance, pull cash out, still cash flow, AND you have a specific opportunity - fine. 

Another alternative is to have a negative cash flow by putting down less.

If the answer to both added questions would be "yes", then you have a potential goldmine here.Combining the seller's concerns, and the reality of a big down payment being a negative to the seller (see Q: 1), you should be able to set the terms, with a lower DP, and controlled interest rate, to have this property CF and,...be able to sell the package to another REI down the road,...as long as you buy this using an LLC (a new one). 

Every lead source that sends you leads without vetting them is warm garbage now.