That has come up in a few recent podcasts about the need to create good deals as they are increasingly hard to find.I tend to focus in the same areas as you and have had the same dilemma, lower the rate of return you are willing to accept, or wait it out. 

I would focus on how you help sellers and setting realistic expectations for potential leads

Hello everyone,I am a real estate investor focused on buy-and-hold and recently moved to California.

Were focusing on turn keys for now.

Should I focus on obtaining a certain amount of money first for a downpayment/closing costs and 6 months of expenses? 

@Brian Bogart, my recommendation is that you focus on building a team and finding deals first.

We tend to focus on strog rental, B class areas in the suburbs outside of the 435 loop.

That said,  council has been fairly quiet lately on rental issues,   perhaps because they were all focused on the seattle head tax debacle, and also I think they are starting realize it wasn't just threats as they see a lot of smaller owners selling.    

Then I found that my W2 job was costing me money because I couldn't focus on my flips and (surprise!)

That makes sense about focusing on the portfolio as a whole - I'd love to invest in both markets in the long term, but I had wondered if starting off with just one would be easier to start off with.