My experience is that most property managers can do an ok job and that a great manager may only slightly out perform an average manager.

I'm betting CA will out perform the 10 properties. 

If your cheap crappy postcard has a headline that grabs their attention, and a message that intrigues them enough to call, it will FAR outperform the most elegant hand written letter that says nothing compelling at all.

Whereas The lower cap rate better properties tend to perform much more smoothly and over a 5 year run its my BET that they will actually outperform the really high initial cap rate properties.  

Just wanted to also share the results of the folliowing studies to remind you that there is a psychological aspect to investing and as a female you are going against the grain but remember that women investors also outperform men so trust your gut and hang in there!!

The FACT of the matter is stocks do out perform RE in the long run, both in net worth, and in income from dividends or withdrawals.

Sacramento is actually outperforming the rest of the state however, the U6 numbers are what concern me at this point (discouraged workers).

To have these unexpected costs while assuming you're going to out-perform the proven ARV on your first flip isn't a safe investment or strategy in my opinion.

Because you're correct, returns on a good real estate deal can vastly outperform the stock market in the long run.

Some of them will need nothing and out perform, and some will be disasters and under perform.