Justin Glover, RE/MAX Grand Rapids.

The only other place I could look that has a growing population is an hour and a half south in Santa Rosa which is getting in to Bay Area Real Estate (read: loads of money). 

The house was sold in October 2017.Last month (March 2018), the new owner reached out to my agent and said that the workmanship of the remodel was crappy and caused the leak behind the walls, and created mold to grow.

@Samuel PawlitzkiTarzana is growing at a faster rate but still a lower priced neighborhood than Woodland Hills. 

It’s my impression that the area is growing, and I see houses here and there that are being flipped.

I am a real estate agent and local builder here in Grand Rapids mi.

Maybe your market is different but in the national markets I've worked in over the last 25 years, it's not the first and best option.What I've seen more often is that even when it starts out great, the reality eventually sets in, and tension starts to grow, when they go from being the stewards of their own castle, to the stewards of someone else's castle.I'm happy for you that your experiences were different.

Grow a thick skin, don’t feed the trolls, as we say in gaming ;-) , and push forward.

I'm in Central Oregon which is one of the hottest and fastest growing markets in the country and that has a lot of people feeling optimistic, but I like what you said about those extra expenses and how quickly they can add up.

Make sure you introduce yourself to a few people every week to grow your network.