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.

My personal experience, as far as trying to get my spouse on the bus, in regard to REI, is that I have needed to really focus on the numbers.

As i have no ties to any local area, i would be flexible in my area of investment, so where would you recommend me focusing on?

For example, if you are going to focus on Google Adwords, you have ads and are continually running optimization tests, you have all keywords setup (including negative keywords!) 

Stay focused on your goal and it will happen!

.#6 Don’t Buy from Unmotivated SellersMotivated sellers are usually willing to work with buyers, so focusing on finding motivated sellers can result in making great deals as a real estate investor.

I'm also an Allentown-focused investor, own 17 units and looking to buy more.