Good neighborhoods, excellent schools, and literally--where does the house I want sit in the actual neighborhood...I say does it look like a $650K house area when I'm done?

My kids are pretty settled in their schools and it would be hard to uproot them.

Look at crime rates, school quality, vacancy rates, and rental demand in those areas.Talk to Local Real Estate Professionals: Connect with real estate agents, property managers, and other investors who are active in the specific areas you're considering.

So if I am looking at an asset as a 10 year play - I look more at the location, schools and how has this market performed in the past excluding covid and 2008 which were extenuating circumstances.Reality is right now shorter term plays do not work based on numbers and cost of financing - we went through this same thing in 2001-2004ish timeframe where properties would appreciate 2-3% per year and after buying costs and closing costs - you were not making money on assets unless you performed the labor or found a really good deal.this is how real estate "typically" is - which is why everyone always says location location location - because after a decent holding period, you will win.

In addition, there will be a ton of high school seniors coming to campus Jan-March to tour campus etc to decide if they would like to attend etc. 

Anthony,You would be surprised by using some old school methods like simply writing a letter like you mentioned. 

If I had the chance to buy in 07, 08, and 09 I would but I was in high school.

Since he doesn't seem to have been able to acquire that sense through the school of hard knocks, he's not going to acquire it through sweet reason spoken to him out of his landlord's mouth."

I like the idea of diversification of my investments and I love the strategy BAM has articulated: the focus on properties with below market rents in growing areas with jobs and good schools. 

I've noticed the typical Silicon Valley hard-core tech startups have a disproportionately high male to female employee ratio, a large portion of engineers hold advanced degrees from big-name tech schools like Stanford and MIT, the C level execs all have extensive tech background even the ones that deal with the business side, etc. checking out online reviews is actually not that straightforward and without traps.