Lots of great meetups can be found at meetup.com and mines is in my signature link below.http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/2...Tom and others please bring up the New AB 1506 bill to dramtically increase rent control in cities.Amid California’s housing crisis, several state lawmakers want to give cities the right to dramatically increase rent control , including imposing and expand the kind of strict limits that exist in SF, LA Santa Monica and West Hollywood but have been barred since the 1990s.

The strategy is best described in Joel Greenblatt's fantastic book, and an outstanding practical guide and tool for executing it can be found over at the Magic Diligence website.You can do either (or both) of those using the "leverage" of Options, allowing for substantial upside potential compared to standard stock purchases, with dramatically reduced downside (if you want a no-hype education on Options, Erik Kobayashi-Solomon's book is great).Those with the patience and inclination can indeed use Option trading to make money in any market condition (Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and "Black Swan" author Nassim Taleb all spent time -- and made lots and lots of money -- as options traders in their careers).For even more leverage, you could of course do any of the above (and much more) on margin (meaning your brokerage lends you money to do the investment), though that's not something I would ever do personally.Also, if you focus on holding stocks (or options) for at least a year, you benefit from favorable tax treatment of the profits.

The path I like is buy-and-hold, however, I expect to pursue flips on occasion to boost cash for buying rentals.In May this year my current home will no longer be my primary residence.  

I would do it just in case because the numbers you are giving are dramatic differences.

If a landlord is not accustomed to accepting prepaid rent, the danger increases dramatically.

As soon as the economy picked up, home prices climbed dramatically.

The reason turned out to be a very high percentage of residents with advanced college degrees and very high house prices.San Jose CA is huge with dramatically variable neighborhoods.

After getting some experience I got a HELOC for $115k from my primary residence I bought back in 2010 to boost my flipping business.

I am the buyer on a seller finance deal and am hoping to somehow get my note payments to boost my credit.  

@Todd Magin, thanks for the confidence boost!