If you want to be completely self-sufficient, you're willing to build an Earthbag home or another building that can be earthquake proofed but can still be run without public utilities, you can spend a ton of money on a well and can have that well water processed to remove contaminated mine crap, you have a great off-road vehicle and you can figure out how to deal with the flooding without redirecting that water onto someone else's land then you can definitely live there.If it's an Investment you're after, give that up.

No off-street parking = not worth doing MTR unless it meets all of the following: super urban area where no parking is the norm, highly desirable area with a ton of MTR demand, super safe part of the city, and has great public transportation (think NYC, Hoboken NJ, etc.)Unless it meets all of the criteria above, I pass on those opportunities because my MTR will be eliminating the many people that travel with their vehicles.

If I am buying an investment vehicle that I know is going to depreciate, then it doesn't matter what the market does.

(Only if you are SERIOUS about real estate as your wealth/career vehicle.)Make sure you join a brokerage that is large, established, and has a reputation for top performance and excellent training.Once you learn the basics and get out into the field to see the state of the market, you'll learn the price points and be able to know a good/great deal when you stumble across it.I have made some of my best (most lucrative) buys from meeting with a seller who wants to list, and when we discussed the price, I knew it fit my parameters, so I bought it! 

I'm posting now to get a head start and hopefully connect with any agents who may be familiar with decent opportunities.

It's meeting people a little ahead of you that really make it seem doable.

But a heads up...the best financing on these types of properties is seller/owner financing.

Looking ahead to retirement for both of us, we would like to make a solid investment with few worries about weather events.

It seems like I need to check further away from the DMV area.My feelings are if you want “cash flow” you should buy a bond (I really like the tips rate right now) there is next to no reason to buy real estate for cash flow, if you are going to buy you should buy with appreciation in mind, which is not to say that’s the route I’d go, I’ve been liquidating properties to put in stocks and money market funds over the last few years and u just did the math and I’ve come out well ahead, but just to say there are arguments for stocks/bonds, there are arguments for levered appreciation, but the cap rates pretty much anywhere aren’t worth it vs an inflation protected bond, especially since a 3/rd of inflation is real estate anywhere, you could get “cash flow” and inflation protection much easier through a tips.

I would love to have a support of a group who knows what they are doing as I plunge ahead in my real estate investor dreams.