@Kevin Means Just run your numbers in the BP Calculators numerous times and have someone else review.

The difference between these two numbers is that year’s net appreciation and principal debt payments less sales expenses and income taxes.The numerator of the formula is the property’s cash flow and increase in the equity for that year.

Also make sure its on the mls to get a bidding war.

I currently have no real savings outside of my company's 401(K) and only a small amount of liquid stocks and cryptocurrency that I could sell.One of the private equity firms founders suggested flipping a couple multi-family or single-family homes in order to pay off my debts and build a war chest to be used as a down payment on a rental property (I thought this sounds like a good idea). 

You can try to buy in a war zone or invest out of state but that is asking for trouble (at your stage). 

I am not an attorney, but I have fixed up numerous house and have run 2 construction companies and can speak from my years of experience in California.

The ones that will capitalize are the ones with war chest saved and waiting for this opportunity to surface.I believe in buy, hold, and sell.

So far Ohio, Indiana and kentucky  seem like they may worth taking a closer look at ( a purely numeric observation). 

After listening to dozens of podcasts, and reading numerous real estate investing blogs and books I'm concerned that the following will doom me to failure.I'm not interested in traveling and I don't salivate over quotes.I've noticed repeatedly that real estate investing masters love nothing more than going on a vacation, and it just doesn't do it for me.

It took me four months of looking to get my latest deal under contract because there aren't many properties that meet my criteria in my town but when It did come on the market there wasn't much competition and I got it under contract without having to get in a bidding war with 20 other investors as might be the case in bigger markets.