(which is how my business thrives!)

Listen to podcast #37, Aaron runs a thriving business in the inland empire

However, downtown is really thriving since they have put so much money into it recently.  

Second, if taxes in this area are in fact 3-4 times higher than what is normal, should my wife and I seriously consider moving if we wish to develop a thriving portfolio over the long term?

The demographics are not indicative of a thriving community and even though it is close to USF (I went there remember) that fact is meaningless.

Rental properties come with renters, hopefully and if not then the property management company of your choice.Renters will vex you, and you have to monitor the activities of your agents as well, rental income in a popular area with a thriving economy is a great return and great for the bottom line.Empty rental units in Detroit, not so much.

G+, Facebook, Twitter are the 3 majors -- Pinterest for women/pictures -- LinkedIn for business networking . . . and so on.Niche networks like ours will continue to thrive as long as the level of service and quality are there.I appreciate your thought process on this one!

The heavy hitters (Graystone, Thrive, Game Ents, Epic Precision, etc.) all basically picked up shop and moved to higher income brackets where the demand hadn't been so cannibalized... or they simply dropped their low-price product entirely and focused on the upper end market.Intown, neighborhoods like Kirkwood became target-rich environments as all the money moved towards Second and Moreland away from Candler and Glenwood.

New in town and happy to hear this great city is thriving -- sounds like there's lots of opportunities across the spectrum.

Since the building of the Hollywood & Highland center real estate has only gone up and many new luxury condominium developments have started to appear stretching out eastward.Without looking up statistics, but from my personal observation, I would say that the crime in Hollywood is mainly committed by people from other places i.e Compton etc... and a combination of a thriving night life which unfortunately involves drug trading.