However, sellers currently on the market are more likely to accept lower offers, giving us some room for negotiation.Rental Market TrendsThe charts below are only relevant to the property profile that we target.Rentals - Median $/SF by MonthRents held steady from October to November, bucking the seasonal trend.

There's lots of opportunities in developing neighborhoods, but also seems a bit saturated at the moment.Also, definitely budget security (remote control cameras, alarm system, etc.) for your properties, as there are a lot of people who occupy themselves by breaking into houses and stealing anything they can sell.Lastly, there are a ton of contractors looking for a quick buck.

If you can get a big 4-5 BR house with a view for a under a million bucks, i'm pretty confident you can cash flow it with a good return, even in a 6%-7% interest rate environment. 

I just used cash to build my first 3 specs no loans at all.. once done and sold then I went to lima got one loan from them.. then went to local bank ( much much cheaper) and got a 3 mil  guidance line and went on to build 30 or so in charleston.. you have to prove the model.. its not like buying a rental where lenders look strongly at your fico  fico is required but not the main consideration like and investor loan and all you need is 20% down or 30% down and a few bucks in reserve that wont fly with spec loans..

And make a few bucks a month as a landlord ..

that's worth one or two hundred bucks a month too. 

I'd look at properties in Portland, Maine, which is also a mature and expensive market like Boston, and wondered why people would buy at such a low cap rate.

I think that is very reasonable move for matured owners like you but I don’t think it benefits most new hosts who should really focus on the ranking over expanding their market.Also I have 1000+ reviews as a super host on Airbnb and I work in a very similar role as a senior resolution case manager.

I said no but it maybe cost you 50 bucks a month other wise your tenant is paying off your principal and 3 to 5 years goes aweful quick then you own it free and clear and you just put 10% down and tenant paid of the rest what are you really going to do with 100 a month anyway... it was funny that was a hard sell. but I can tell you I did about 50 of the no interest and as they paid off you talk about a happy buyer getting their reconveyance deed in such a short amount of time.. 

This is the question I was going to ask....you are bucking the odds by staying in SoCal.