Like many businesses, the flipping niche has 3 categories that differentiate one flipper from another: quality, faster, cheaper.

In regard to what you mentioned, yes rent often  times is going to be cheaper than your PITI + HOA in the bay area. 

Quote from @Ariel Rivas: I don't know your market specifically, but it's typically cheaper to purchase those items at Home Depot or Lowe's.

If you have less than 20-30 rentals Quickbooks little brother Quicken is much cheaper, easier, and still overkill for such a simple task.

I've used other cheaper solutions, but they're not nearly as good.

It's those types of deals where I would argue that higher-cost education might be justified, as it would be cheaper to spend money on the education than to screw up even a single deal.

China has cheaper labor, almost no EPA constraints, far cheaper electric power with their new Dam, etc.

They are going to be the cheaper alternative for SFR, so in theory you should get some decent appreciation gain and good tenant pool.3.

Different companies have different fees and - more importantly - not all managers are created equal.Remember: cheaper doesn't mean you'll make more money.Start by going to www.narpm.org to search their directory of managers.

There are other concerns with this approach, but 50% down on a ready to go $150k rental in a cheaper area?