We live in the bay area because this is where our jobs are and we have family in the area, but we prefer to invest in landlord friendly states.

Hi Benjamin, I’m in japan and doing real estate investing here for about 8 years in different styles besides my full time job.

Without population growth, your rental income will lag behind inflation, requiring you to find additional sources of income.How long your rental income lasts depends on the job growth in the investment city.Non-government jobs are inherently temporary.

 - flipping is a job, stop flipping and stop making money.  

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

I have had several cases where I finally got cops or government officials to only do their job after being very loud to the newspapers, but it does work.  

My wife and I have a W2 job. 

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

The consistent population and job growth are driving real estate values along with many companies choosing to move and develop here like Intel, Amazon, Google, Meta, etc.

I think they've done a great job of building their product and if you already have a property listed on Airbnb, it's super easy to import to MiniStays (though it's not difficult to list your property there if you don't.)