I'm in Orange County, not far from Los Angeles, so I'll count us in with them :)

Currently reside in Orange County, California and looking to relocate to Colorado in about a year.

I currently reside in Orange County, CA but am looking to relocate to Colorado in a year or so.

We have areas like Orange County which is doing relatively well, and is strong in all those things I mentioned, and other areas that have unemployment up around 20% still, with no economies to speak of.As the market picks up in the more stable areas, and grows to full strength again, people start looking at investing in 2nd homes, etc., and oftentimes those homes are in areas that are great tourist areas, but were very hard hit in economic downturns.

There are 49 bright orange aisles full of glittering goodies calling out to him.

I was told that there are crucial elements of investigating a property before even attempting to buy it.

However, I think that it's apples and oranges for me because I can either put 25% down on 4 houses using $200,000, or, I can use the $200k to get one flip going.

@Will Barnard Haha yes you are correct, 25k buys you a fruit stand out here in Orange County if you're lucky.

What concepts are crucial and what needs to just be learned by doing?

I look forward to your thoughts/feedback that will hopefully help me understand this crucial function in the flipping ecosystem.