You may find many property management companies are found as arms of real estate brokerages.I did my own management for a while early on when I had only a couple of places and it was nice to learn what the day to day challenges were.

Not trying to discourage you from these type of deals, just want you to be mindful of the challenges you could face coming from my experience and the many investors I personally know.AssumptionsDownpayment: 20%Closing Costs: 3%Amortization: 30 yrsInt Rate: 4.3%Materials: 8% (plug)Maintenance: 8% (plug)Capex: 10% (plug)Makes sense: Purchase Price @ $160k* I hope this helps and makes sense.

If you prefer something closer to downtown, you're looking at a much older property and a little more challenging to find one with a detached apartment. 

The bigger challenge (in my opinion) is how you present the deals to those cash-buyers.

The only offset I've found is buying well below market value, which of course is a challenge in its own right (especially in the Upstate).

It's in a pretty "high demand" area in Silicon Valley so I don't foresee an issue selling it, it's more about identifying the replacement property that will be challenging.

I'm a transplanted Midwesterner myself (Chicago) and also a newbie investor.I decided to take Brandon Turner's 90-Day Challenge: having a deadline is a good way to break the procrastination and "analysis paralysis" cycles.

It would be a challenge but not impossible. 

I was wondering if anyone else has experience with storage facilities...what are some of the challenges?

The challenge is working thru' the permits and finding a good modular company who could customize the home.