The formula that is sticking out as a potential to me is what I have been doing quietly the last 6 years: buying a cosmetic SFH fixer in B areas with 3% down, live in and renovate, long term rent and repeat.

I sold an apartment building and as I lived in the building was always there when my realtor showed it to prospective buyers. 

Anyone can live anywhere they want if they have the money, and sometimes houses are bought and then rented out without much background checking on the people moving in.

I live in Seaford, NY and have been searching for areas outside of LI to do my next deal.

I live in El Paso, TX and would like to invest close to home first before venturing in long-distance.

I'm more interested in purchasing 10 homes to have fully paid off by the time I retire, as I'm not living on the cash flow w/ current job. 

@Hugh Horner I live in the village of Catskill.

I am a district manager with a company called Build 2 rent, and i live in Cape Coral.  

On the flip side, if you've got a bunch of Section 8 tenants living in a building that's in a neighborhood where a lot of the tenant base has good jobs, high credit scores, and are generally reliable people, you've got the most risky tenants in that tenant base and that ain't what ya want.

However, the units I see myself living in all barely break even on cashflow.