There's a lot of misunderstanding about the returns it generates that create confusion, so I hope to clear through that a bit by saying: you can't compare policy returns to, say, a stock or market based investment because that's comparing apples and oranges.

I personally own properties in the counties of Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and Kern. 

Sec. 8 is fine if you are not in NYC, Newark, Jersey City, Weehawken, Irvington or The Oranges.

Thats apples to oranges.. does not really relate to RE investing.. there is nothing new about over paying for real estate that has been going on forever. 

In 10 years, when you have a nice portfolio of homes and they're cash flowing nice chunks of money, you'll appreciate the amount of time, energy and effort you put into your business and will get to enjoy the fruits of your labor.When I first went to the cpa I've been using for the last 5 or 6 years and explained what I was doing, he said, he's heard it before.

You will find quotes all over the map which are usually apples and oranges as CPAs specialize in different things and have different business models (Flat fee, Subscription, Hourly, Hybrid etc).

What are some companies still insuring rental properties in Orange County California?

I get it, it's an REI board, but most of the stuff I read I fear themselves just getting caught on the system of the decade prior while not understanding the dynamics are apples to oranges.

Fruit-cake maybe, wack-job sure, but the psyco is a smart psyco. 

In these "quantity" areas, you'll have a very hard time finding a buyer who has a down payment and can qualify for a loan .This is an article Jack Miller wrote about the topic.Making money from the earnings of poor people is like getting orange juice from an orange tree without any oranges on it.