Traditional brokers are not creative and they don't understand these things.Best bet, try and find an independent agent or search for "Flat Fee MLS  your area" and get a local guy.  

Mike hasn't been back yet, I'd bet he understands the points I was making above.Steve, predatory practices are not necessarily avoid by showing you tried to work out an existing loan, the attempt may not even apply to other factors.

@Chris Bingham Your best bet is Levelquik and you can find it at a big box store.

Hope you are listening to the podcast - Josh and Brandon are fantastic - as well the amazing guests.I live in the Bay area also but invest almost entirely out of state in Texas and Midwest.I think it's a much safer bet to do real estate outside of California due to positive cash flow and avoid the crazy roller coaster ride of California real estate market.

As much currency as has been printed, their bet is that the rates won't go up much.  

Your last paragraph was very important as I learn about buy and holds…don't bet on appreciation.  

You are making a bet, perhaps an educated guess, but just the same, a wager that average home prices in a given community will increase.People who buy with short term gains in mind are speculators; they often just don't know it.

I think your best bet would be to find a professional property management company to handle it. 

Now everybody says it will stay the same, I bet it will rise...So think I wiser to stick to 4-plex and lock a 30-year rate instead of floating with a commercial loan . 

Though the 30 yr is safer.