I don’t want to spend a month in a dump.  

What would I need to do to structure the note in order to have a note buyer come in and buy the note or buy a partial enough to pay off the 215k at closing and still have some difference coming to me or the note revert back to me after the partial was paid for. 

I have a house rental in California.  

Mission KS is a hot area in the metro, not surprised it sold fast

As for the areas to target, my goal in getting our feet wet as real estate investors--and since we plan to be living in Sac--is to find a property we can live in while renting out one or more units to help cover our housing expenses, which we can then hold and continue to rent out when we move.

(FYI - To keep it "real" I also say in the listing this is virtual staging).

One fast way to generate cash flow is to invest in high cash flow, low appreciation markets (say several midwest e.g.

I say that because every decent legit place I know of in market, yes offers the option of doing just tenant placement, for self-managing. 

Well, Oregon can feel like an entirely different ball game.. especially if you’re used to simpler markets like Arizona or Texas.

Keep in mind this is 2018-2019 prices.