I prefer buy and hold.

Increase income, decrease DTI, and buy a home (i.e., get a higher paying job, work two jobs, go to trade school, get a higher paying degree, live in affordable area, etc...these are things that most of us did).

Below is some copy & paste info about our methodology:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Investment Info:Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

The other day I started the thread Why do people Buy Property in California? 

don't buy the hype that you don't. 

If the other two parties want to flip a house maybe they can do just that as partners and then sell you the house which you can buy with a primary home loan with low down payment.

Flip side, for a third of that you are trained to find properties using creative finance taking over existing low interest loans that cash flow and you are buying in decent neighborhoods with every day lunch box Joes that have kids and go to work and pay rent on time. 

For someone looking for diversification or steady long-term growth without getting too hands-on, your suggestion of buying and upgrading a rental property in a familiar and appreciating area makes a lot of sense.

My wife and I are hoping to buy another single family home that is bigger sometime in the next year for our new family and potentially rent out our current home to tenants.