well first off this being a landlord site.. and a positive cash flow site generally speaking.. most will tell you are nuts to buy this.however if you can get the property to just about break even maybe lose 100 a month or so and you have a prime Socal asset that someone else is paying off your mortgage and you think rents can go up a little.and you can EAISLY self manage based on quality of the unit .. incredible tight rental market.. that mitigates a lot of land lord issues.I mean whats the alternative you go 1000 miles away to make 100 or 200 a month.. is that positive cash flow going to change your life..is 100 a month negative going to change your life.now this is an extreme.. but i owned a home in Palo Alto that i chose to sell back in 91 because it would have been 300 a month negative.. well that negative within 36 months would have been positive.. and i sold for 500k and today that home is worth 3 million.... and once it got positive it probably would have been positive up to 2 to 3k a month coming into the 2010's.... and someone else would have paid for my home.. plus grade A tenants at all times.. being prime Palo Alto.so thats one extreme.. its really only in low to no appreciating markets with tougher tenant bases that turn a bunch that positive cash flow becomes more acute or for those that want to one day live on their cash flow and be in the business of landlording.. thereby acquiring 50 to 100 doors. 

So it is a little bit tougher to learn from books meant for a national audience.

Unfortunately it's even tougher to nail a deal in a prime location to airbnb.

Granted I’m hearing Refi with us commercials on the radio, it’s a lot tougher as the loan guidelines seem to be back to where they were.

From someone who spent 22-years in USAF, and then has 28+Years in Real Estate - it's a great Vocation - but you'll be working for a much tougher boss -YOURSELF! 

I just started investing last year and can tell you from experience that it is going to be a lot tougher for you to find the types of deals you are looking for than it is for a seasoned investor.

Things look only to get tougher for median income and entry-level home buyers, who are already priced out to the suburbs and beyond.

Older leases are likely to allow management expense, newer ones with smarter/tougher tenants are trying to take it out.What are you trying to accomplish?

might be a little tougher to find a multi and drive time would be 20 to 30 minutes but major traffic not as bad. 

If you have 20% down and good credit, you should be able to get a hard money loan for this.Convincing a homeowner in pre-foreclosure to sell to you when it's that close to the auction date, that would be the tougher part.