The ONLY reasonable deals are:Appliances when purchased if you have a retailer that offers unlimited repairs/replacement for 5 years for 10% of price.

One major things to consider that many newer investors miss with 5+ units, is that if you intend to hold, the property will need to be at least 75% occupied and stabilized before you will be able to find reasonable financing terms. 

I've helped a lot of investors in your area, and I find that many of them end up purchasing rentals in the Central Valley for the very reason you mentioned.  

I would for NOT do tree houses for liability reasons.

The deal has to make sense and you really need to know the comps to make sure your investment is going to actually make money.

Private lending using retirement funds is my personal favorite (I've done a few dozen loans like this) for the following reasons: passive, low risk, and high returns.

It is balance sheet heavy but for some reason, most investors in BP are just focused on P&L and they stick with these free accounting platform that doesn't even utilize the Balance Sheet.A lot of the time when I clean up client's books, it's mainly in the balance sheet that needs to be fixed up.

Officers all too often think the know the law simply because they wear a badge, when they actually know a lot less than most folks. 

I actually started my own blog to break down the latest market news in a way that’s easy to understand and actionable.I pull my information from a few solid sources, including:•Florida Realtors (floridarealtors.org) – Great for statewide updates, trends, and legislative changes.

It's always good to have another reasonably priced and reputable pool vendor in my arsenal to share with clients.