And anything religious is even more of a red flag to me, because it says that the 'buyer' thinks that I'm so gullible, that a mention of God would make me more interested in dealing with him' - In fact, anyone that used something religious is someone I'd be even less inclined to deal with, because they don't think they can can offer enough credibility by themselves, so they throw God into the mix. 

I have read many books and follow BP religiously. 

I've never once wavered on the belief that the market does not control my destiny.

Putting myself in a position to talk with like-minded people with similar goals, objectives, and beliefs and allowing them to also hold me accountable for what I say has helped me grow.

My belief is this: I'll make more money in the long-run with my strategy. 

I've witnessed some horror stories and seen good landlords being taken advantage of, burdened, and stressed beyond belief due to a non-paying tenant.

I'm a 29 year old American living in California (Silicon Valley) with $500k in cash.Due to religious reasons, I cannot use leverage (i.e. bank loans), so my investments need to be all cash.I need to invest this money in a way that will get me good rental returns.I do think my only options may be to go out of state.I was thinking of potentially buying two condos in not so great neighborhoods in California ($250k each) and renting them out.I was also thinking about going out of state and buying two nice townhouses (maybe somewhere in Arizona, North Carolina, Texas, etc) at $250k each and renting them out.I'm not sure what to do with my money that will get me good returns, while not being able to use leverage.Should I go out of state, or invest somewhere in California where the rental returns won't be so great?

On one hand there are always more deals, limiting beliefs are what give you the notion there may not be another.

Religious organizations usually have partial or full exemption from real estate taxes and their holding cost on real property is lower than yours. 

For me it all started with the podcasts, hearing about peoples success in the biz really solidified my belief that I too could be successful.