If a long term owner, investigate thoroughly, they could just be risk adverse. 

Travel cost to look at other propertyIf you travel, but you have not identified the property that you actually want to buy yet and the cost is considered investigating cost.

I would investigate Joshua tree with allowing more air bnb .

This is a great place to learn and further investigate investing in real estate.

This will dictate what strategies you investigate based on the leverage, timeframe, and other risks required of you.

You might do this investigation?

If your lender wants one or your client wants to be able to qualify for a liability defense, the report needs to be no more than a year old (with some of the investigation tasks must not be more than six months old). 

The authors, David Osborn and Aaron Amuchastegui, suggested hiring a helper to investigate the prospects.

Contact the Department of Family Services to see if they can provide you some guidance or investigate the situation.

This means have a stable W-2 income stream, work on your credit score, investigate locations you like for that first 5% down FHA loan, find a property that would cash flow a bit if you weren't living in it (Mortgage, Taxes/insurance/HOA, 10% vacancy, repairs, property management), live in it for a bit, then turn it into a rental and watch the appreciation grow over the years.