Real Estate in CA is better than stock market or CD today.

I was able to get my house with 0% down and a great rate. when i was 16, my dad set up a joint account for me at the stock broker he worked with.

They are VERY smart companies to invest in, however, I am not sure what the open market value or appreciation is on stock in the company.

Let's take things one step at a time.Before you invest in ANYTHING, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, real estate, or fine art, you must UNDERSTAND what you are doing.

Unlike investing in stocks and bonds, real estate offers people the opportunity to invest in something that is concrete and material."

What is your projected IRR and how does that compare with other options like stocks or bonds?

Investing out of state is difficult as well unless you can get into a triple net lease or a large enough commercial residential place that can afford full time management and still cash flow (the do exist in this part of the country).Only if there was a way to sell short in real estate like you can do with stocks.

So it looks like while pursuing the dual goals of "do no evil" and "get a piece of every pie", Google decided to launch Google Finance today and you can check it out athttp://finance.google.com/financeTo see what financial bloggers (including yours truly) are saying about Google Finance, check out this discussion on the internet stock blog athttp://internetstockblog.com/article/7947

Never go into any investment (this applies to stocks too, not just RE) that you don't completely understand and can explain to ANYONE else, how the program works, how much you have at RISK and how much is your ptential reward.INVESTORS own RE for only ONE REASON.

Not sure it's a series but it may be.Back during the dot com boom everyone and their dog was a stock picker or had investment advice.