Just focusing on the passive income you want to achieve will leave you chasing cash flow which will have you buying properties in worse areas with harder tenancies that seem to cash flow better, but will have large cap ex.Any time someone asks a question about where to invest and it can be anywhere, they aren't ready to invest and are opening themselves up to every pitch in the world on an area.

You could buy a turnkey rental there and do none of the work - look up MidSouth Homebuyers.

However, there are ways to leverage SBA loans so they can buy a new primary and then look at their current property as an investment property and secure a DSCR loan to redevelop and rebuild.

This means that you will probably need to pay registration and filing fees in at least 2 states if you don’t buy CA property as a CA resident.Be sure to tell your accountant that you may now need to file non-resident income tax returns in each state where you own property as well.

I am a buyer - my buy box is 200k ARV, all in $150k after repairs, rents for $2000 per month.

Getting one property and cashflowing it will be a challenge. you can try seller financing but you are still going to be highly levered which just enhances the risk that you are taking on.The best way to grow is to focus on managing your rental, saving money through your W2 and crushing that - if you are a realtor you will make more crushing it as being a realtor than over leveraging real estate - then save for down payment and buy slowly. its not a rush.

- 5 or 10 years ago, an investor could buy almost anything and have it cashflow immediately.

turnkey section 8 is not going to be like buying a brand new home there will always be differed items or stuff that does not work etc.. age of homes makes this impossible. then you add section 8 tenants and  there you go

Every market in residential zoning has an expiration date, we just don't know what it is yet.The obvious solution is to buy in already regulated areas with tourist/commercial zoning.The returns are lower, but at least they can't go to zero overnight.

Patience is definitely needed if you are trying to buy from a resident with no real estate experience.