That said, Columbus is a stable market with high demand across the board...all supported by any metric you care to consider...it's a challenge to find the perfect deal, but if you are prepared to pull the trigger and broaden your reach by building your relationships and networking something will turn up.

Another thing was comps were hard to come by in the community, so we had to broaden the area to other communities.

Now if an investor outside of California were to broaden their investments out of their home state and into California's market, I believe they would find properties and deals in abundance due to the fact that there is a mass amount of properties that are either abandoned or forgotten about, unpaid property taxes and preforeclosures are everywhere, and the commercial/industrial portion of unused properties is incredibly widespread especially in the greater Los Angeles area, with new market places and strip malls being built in the suburbs left and right.

I would ditch the garage conversion idea.As Kevin said, the numbers don't look great but unless you buy more house or broaden your area you probably won't be able to do much better. 

I think I can broaden my search a little if I can figure out which items to focus less on. 

So as usual the answer is 'it depends' and you need to broaden your evaluation criteria.

BP'ers investing in KC - I am also looking to invest in the area.Have already developed contacts for Property Management, Agents, Turn Key providers and looking to broaden my network.Currently focusing in INdependence, some areas of the urban core, Raytown, North Kansas CIty.Looking for Multifamily (2, 4, 6 Plexes) with moderate to little renovation needed.

I'm  always looking to broaden my network by helping and learning investors and learning from seasoned investors.

As an investor I want to broaden my understanding of real estate business.  

.,)  While these books may not really guide you to getting a license -- so I guess I'm not specifically answering your question -- they will broaden your real estate field of knowledge and should help you in your career in the long run.Other than that -- study, study, study the licensing materials!