You may notice I added Zillow as an option in the services I summarized.

But it’s simply not about money, it’s about life.A good friend of mine, who was born and lived here all of her life until a few months ago, who is a very successful lawyer, is into outdoor sports on one hand, but is also a club-going urban dweller on the other, and who recently moved to Seattle, summarized the Bay Area the best, in my opinion: there’s a lot of everything here, but everything is either shallow, mediocre, or so overcrowded that it’s no longer accessible or enjoyable (e.g.: Yosemite).

Agree with what @David Dachtera said.Get yourself educated.You don't have to listen to all 300 podcasts before you get started though.Learn the theory then implement fast.Here's my experience with one 48-unit building I sold and made over $1M on.I summarized what I learned here on BP.

I have acquired over 1,000 apartment units.I will reveal the details on how I did it in a separate post.But here's a sample of what I've done: (summarized it here on BP)Turned around a Problem 48-unit Building and Then Sold it for over a $1M Profit!

I'm assuming that @Joe Splitrock finds it galling, as I do, that a new member of the forum shows up and dismisses the successes of a long time member, who has clearly documented his journey, just because you can't be bothered to click on his profile and want it all to be summarized for you in this thread

It's not my job to enforce the law and had I confronted them who knows how that would have ended.To summarize, I honestly think most people are actually better off not carrying due to the training requirements needed.

to summarize, my initial investment was $3,500.... to cashflow $1,050 a month. 

My favourote hobby is eating good food ;)  - -We have plenty of all kinds..To summarize, you should actually put Houston as first in your list because we have everything to offer for you and you won't regret it.

So To summarize"Challenge everything - Challenge all your assumptions  "2.

I also come from a project management background, so was well aware of the amazing feats that can be accomplished with a competent team.When it was time to invest, I scanned all markets I had any sort of access to, evaluated which other ones I could enter with reasonable safety by utilizing unfamiliar teams on the ground, then crossed that over with potential returns.I'm a pure cashflow investor, never like to speculate, so reliable monthly cashflow was criteria no. 1, followed closely by no. 2 - ease of management and low maintenance, then finally no. 3 - Affordability (which equals hedge and diversity), and last but not least, no. 4 - would I like to visit once or twice a year, at worst case, if things require my hands-on attendance.A combination of the four pointed at Japan, which is where I'm primarily invested (with smaller portions of our family portfolio in the US, Europe and Australia), although I'm only living there half the year at this point, thanks to good team utilization which means I don't need to go there unless I want to - this may change now that the yen's down and our son's nearing primary school age - which is the whole point of renting where you live and investing where the money and the environment works for you - to retain the flexibility and lifestyle benefits of being able to work and live anywhere we want at any given time.This is, of course, a long process of rationalization and calculation summarized in a nutshell - if I haven't bored you to death yet, and you want to hear more about the hows and whys of investing overseas, feel free to contact me. :)Best of luck in your chosen path, you seem to be considering all the right factors before embarking on it - I'm sure you'll enjoy the ride.