An experienced broker with lots of choices at the palm of their hand is probably the best bet.

Hi Kendric, Ohio, and other midwest cities are good choices for low-price entry.

At the beginning, it may be difficult to get a more expensive property that will appreciate well and so your choice is go with the cheaper property and get cash flow until you can sell and upgrade, or wait for a really good deal which you may be waiting for quite a while and its possible that you will have spent so much time waiting that you could have purchased multiple cash flowing properties by the time you get a good appreciation deal that you can qualify for / refinance after the rehab. i know anyone can go out and get seller financing deals, HML, flip to build capital or whatever the case may be I am just saying sometimes those will be harder and could result in less deals overall. 

If there is a choice to be made, it comes down to what an investor "likes" or prefers about one over the other? 

This is a great idea that I think I will incorporate.Your point about a contingency line item is smart, I will need to talk to my lender about that possibility. 

Ditto, I use PriceLabs for my STRs - here is a nice writeup ...Airbnb Smart Pricing Vs PriceLabs: An In-Depth Comparison For Hosts | Boost Your Short-Term Rentals

I'm able to review the reports provided and help my clients make the best choices depending on what they're doing.

We have a few markets we target outside of California, but obviously if you want to stay close to home, Sacramento would be an ideal choice.

But he was smart enough to only take over properties with equity so he was able to refi out of them before the underlying lienholders could foreclose.  

Hi Kelly,I am currently with Equity Trust not by choice since they bought out Midland Trust last year (2023).