You picked areas that are on the edge of getting gentrified, and some already gentrified, but I don't think Olney fits that criteria. 

Pick an area to invest: I would prefer Santa Monica/LA area, but I think it will be difficult to get the 10-15% COC returns I’m looking for.3.

I think the dreamer / hobby-business aspect helps: Most people pick RS for certain reasons & entry/exit can be (rather) fluid-- it's not like most of us picked this major in college, and feel trapped in a system as a professional  we didn't understand as a teen-ager.

Any person who wants to start investing needs to start in the same way: get educated about the various facets of REI (this is a great place to do just that), pick an area of interest and jump in. 

I'm thinking about picking up another income property in SoCal, but I'm thinking I may wait until the market cools...or just go out-of-state where cash-on-cash returns will be better and the laws friendlier to landlords.  

Be active in the community here and you will pick up a ton of knowledge just by reading and learning.

I am interested in rehabing houses, specifically houses picked up in foreclosure or part of estate sales.  

If 99.9% of the ones you are having contact with that way are that bad, maybe it is time to adjust how you pick a Realtor?  

If there's anything I've picked up from BP, it's that "buying right" is a critical part of investing successfully. 

I wished I'd learned earlier to put the video games down and pick up a book about investing in RE.