There are statistics out there that you can analyze in order to see some things such as:Growth rate of the city: A decline in growth is a bad sign for the town.

In researching those methods independently, I came across BiggerPockets.com and now I hope that this site will be an invaluable resource as I move forward in my real estate education.I understand that the competition in San Diego real estate is fierce and a difficult place to start, but I hope that I can overcome that challenge and allow the "steel to sharpen steel", and become a more knowledgeable and successful investor for it.

@John P.As far as hard data goes, I've asked a similar question involving statistics, and if anyone knew the actual percentage of tenants actually sewing their landlords.

I post a market report every month with real comps statistics, "south east michigan housing report" search for it if interested.

Stuart I had the same internal debate when I did my first rehab and what I found was that every company that I called was literally tens of thousands more than an independent GC or individual subs were with the price.

For us the basement pour is was one of the largest single expenses so we approached an small independent (basement) contractor & he came in around 50% below our GC's quote & that of a couple of other larger companies.We also personally negotiated & purchased the windows, doors, kitchen cabinets, trim, flooring, mechanicals etc etc.

Find a local independent agent.

@Michael StoleAre you dealing with the in-house staff at both of these "Big-5" banks or are you using an independent broker in either case?

Some companies require your auto insurance to write the umbrella and there are stand alone umbrella companies usually offered by an independant agent.You may want to buy a liability only policy for your rentals and remove the coverage from your rental properties.

I'm a tentative in, depending on date and time.