The real estate has been good to us, and to give you an idea, I'm going to be applying for a continuing education course in refrigeration so I definitely see value in that - however in my case I see specific value to use the knowledge that I'll gain for my (and my family's) own purposes, given that we already have a rental portfolio and some AC needs in the docket.I think there's a challenge in finding meaningful career opportunities within the trades for many, many people - as the training and cultural environments within most 'service businesses' such as an HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc can be desolate and make certain folks turn to the 'dark side' of business. 

You’d be wise to look at migration rates, diversity/resiliency of the economy.

San Fran might be a one trick pony with tech and suffer those bubbles in addition to housing bubbles, so places like LA with more diversity tend to weather short term corrections much better, and bounce back much quicker.

(yet they do).It doesn't matter what the current generation does, (or Pop Culture claims it's doing), just make money, turn a profit, stay in business through the downturns and the upturns will fill your bank accounts.Give people what they want and make a profit doing it.Just my 2 cents.https://www.youtube.com/watch?

I know SD is nice....in so many ways...great weather...great culture...but it is expensive.   

We also have tenants who, culturally, would feel compelled to give a gift in return - another scenario we would like to avoid.

By population growth, landlord friendliness, city size (I LOVE big cities), economic diversity, my budget and a few other factors.So Indianapolis is one of my winners which I am looking into more seriously. 

Thanks for the responses.I just wanted to make sure its not language/culture barrier that is causing me to dismiss some of these- that would not be cool for lots of reasons- but here in LA in the LA rent control/tenant friendly environment- MTR hosts are pretty paranoid (that is because as alot of you probably already know- 30 days creates a legal tenancy)Invariably though these people act weird, wont be vetted, never have reviews, etc., so I'm glad others feel as I do.

Thanks BP for attracting such diverse and interesting guests!

I'm very focused and very well studied on team building and company culture, I'm working on starting my life coaching business to help other people become successful.