Bay Park / Clairemont / Carlsbad / Oceanside are all top-tier markets that fetch top dollar (see the Yellow & Red).Move your search slightly inland, or further down South and inland, in order to get something done for 1/2 the price, with similar rents (not quite as high, but definitely not 50% less like the purchase price would be)

Without diving so deep into the weeds, the biggest factors I tell people who want to start out passively are:1.

Red Stick REI and The RING are the two big ones in the BR area.

If you can't close fast enough or has too much red tape, then you lose the deal to others.

Read Gary Keller's The Millionaire Real Estate Investor for a deep dive on expenses. 

If you don't know how deep the water is, you may get more than just your "feet wet".Third Lesson.Cheap and discount are not the same thing. 

., without having to go to the state where it's located and asking around, i say this because there has to be a good way to estimate these things before going deep into the dealAny insights on this guys?

Are there any potential red flags I should be aware of?

I know, there are plenty of red flags there, but I do believe it is worth the risk when I consider how happy it makes my wife, how life-changing it will be for the family, how minor the financial impact will be on me, and how it gives me the opportunity to practice the steps of real estate investing with forgiving tenants.Finally, I am going to attempt to self manage as nothing comes close to cash-flowing if you include PM costs.

I wasn't sure if asking my FHA lender about switching it to commercial will raise red flags.