I have attended local meetups so that I can have a handful of experienced folks who have resources to share.  

My core investing philosophy is pretty simple, and has done very well across almost two decades and numerous cities:1) Invest in cities with population (and job) growth2) Invest in parts of the city where household income is near the median (or slightly below)3) Invest in properties that provide cash flow from day 1 Thank you for sharing that. 

Maybe I’m being a little optimistic, but I feel like this is a good starting point for us.I’m not interested in investing outside of Orange County for our first property since we know the area really well.Networking:I’d also love to attend some real estate meetups around here and connect with people in the space.

I also agree that RE appreciation is unlikely to match the last dozen years, but you never know.Where I am unsure we agree is that paying $450k to improve the cash flow ~$3k (your numbers but I expect my delta wold be similar meaning both my cash flow estimates would be worse than yours but both would be worse by the same amount not affecting the difference) makes sense especially if the cost of having the extra $450k is only 6% rate which is historically simple to beat via numerous investment options and hopefully no one is investing in RE for an expected of 6%.  

I hadn't read the Baltimore story before...wow.Hi Sathiya, some thoughts: - attend in person meet ups in the Boston area to talk to other investors who buy locally and out of state to get their feedback and maybe consider looking within a 2 to 3 hour drive. - cash flow is difficult now with long term rentals even if you pick markets that have lower purchase prices than Boston.

I can find numerous other similar homes for investors.

I haven't had opportunity to attend yet. 

Search the BP for ADU appraisals to encounter numerous examples.

I did not attend the 3 day class, but purchased the self paced virtual version with the mind set that even if I only learned the how, it would be worth the spend long term.

Attend meet-ups.