@Jaren Taylor, not sure if this is why you talk about raising all cash, but given most deals are trading in the 5% cap rate range, and agency debt is 6.5% while balance sheet debt is closer to 7%, I whole heartedly agree that all cash is the ideal capital structure for many properties today, if your goal is to maximize overall returns for your investors.  

Stock Market = Multi-Unit Property = Established Business = Payoff rentals = Hard Money Lending = The ideal situation is too invest in the item that will get you the highest return and lowest level of difficulty / time spent.Best of luck

The refinance step is where you pull out this equity, typically in the form of a cash-out refinance.Here’s how it works:You refinance the property at its new appraised value (after rehab and renting).You take out a new loan based on that increased value, ideally for the full amount or more than what you originally paid for the property.The goal is to pull out enough money to cover the cost of the original purchase and rehab (or even more, depending on the property’s appreciation).This allows you to recover your initial investment, which can then be used to buy your next property.5.

Quote from @Tove Fox: I live in California and am interested in purchasing my first investment property in an A or B neighborhood in one of the above states, ideally under $300k.

Also, before you buy another property you'll want to determine your ideal next property - meaning, will it be a "rent ready" house, a major renovation project, or somewhere in between.

Population and job growth just isn't ideal.

What you want is an investor friendly Realtor who is, ideally, an investor themselves which is a very, very small percentage of Realtors.Yes, you should find an investor friendly Realtor to have on your team.

Starting small with multifamily properties is my ideal preference at the moment, as I focus on learning, growing, and immersing myself in as much information, data, and real-time experience as possible.As I build my investment portfolio, I could definitely see myself being interested in scaling up to larger acquisitions in the future, but for now, my focus is on mastering the fundamentals and starting small.

Focusing on homes that area ideally under 1500 sq ft. 

For our second STR, we are currently researching Sherman, potentially / ideally, a less expensive duplex that we could rennovate and self manage from Dallas with workers coming to the area in mind.