Unfortunately, along with individuals in your shoes desire to advance their projects as quickly as possible, the contractors are often eager to get the work started and the combined desires of both parties frequently leads to rash decision making.

I recommend networking with other investors and asking for personal recommendations, using companies (not individuals) with strong reviews on Google, etc.

I was going to go with "High net worth individuals (HNWIs) are those who have at least $1 million in easily convertible assets like cash, stocks, and bonds."

We have a power team of individuals we trust.

@Demiss ShippleyHouse hacking in expensive markets is doable, but you may need to be more flexible or more creative.I agree with @Benjamin Sulka, likely in this environment plus being in a high COL, you'll likely not be able to cashflow unless you have a SFH with many rooms that you rent out individually.

We are all different due to life experiences, skills we have learned, and our individual strengths and weaknesses.  

I'm looking forward to networking, and meeting like-minded individuals, maybe future partners, lenders, agents, contractors, etc.

But maybe I can connect with individual wholesalers there as I'm looking for properties before they go on blast. 

I think you have to look smaller regions and at more individual deals to make a decision, but overall I think that appreciation is a great sign in this area and hilltop is a zip code you can get cheaper houses in Columbus. 

I have read that acquiring bank loans in some ways actually gets easier as the bank cares about the NOI, CAP rate etc as the basis for the loan and not the individual behind the company seeking the loan.