However, if you are able to use the high cost of living to your advantage, as you can as a RE investor there and other ways as well, you can turn that frown upside down ... on the financial side, the trick for me was to arrange my financial affairs such that the higher the cost of living gets, the wealthier I get, but I will still be ok and wealthy if that doesn't happy ... then my happiness is only limited by the 405 freeway (joke, not really), which I only need to use if I want to leave the 6th happiest city, which would almost always be by choice and not necessity, again by design :) So, I guess my point is that you can engineer your lifestyle for maximum happiness no matter where you live, and that is a worthy metric to optimize around, but some places are definitely easier to do that than others due to the nice things you can't change IMO.How is Alaska treating you?

As a civil engineer, I sure you are open to discovery.

But new investors usually jump in at the top of the market, and get burned.  

"Pay Per Call" (where the text link in the search engine is directed to a call prompt ONLY on mobile phones and PDAs) since an estimated 55% (in the US) are now searching primarily via phone, etc. vs. on a laptop, or PC.

I'm actually an MEP engineer where I design Mechanical, Plumbing, and Fire protection systems for a variety of building types.Best of Luck!

I had an engineer come out to the property and honestly I don't think he new what to do with the issue.  

Eventually, when I find the deals that make sense, I will build a portfolio of rentals, with the goal of providing the passive income necessary to fuel the lifestyle I desire.I'm also interested in investing out of area / out of state where prices are lower and I can see some cash flow "upfront"; even interested in flipping out of state down the road.I'm already having a lot fun just learning (having my eyes opened), and with my burning desire to succeed I will keep having fun learning and doing throughout this whole journey.

His carriage and demeanor make me apprehensive and when I had the chance to meet him and asked questions about income / profession he was a touch evasive and contradicted himself (mentioning an engineering career, then being retired, then working in retail all in the same window).

My brother will be an incoming freshman there as well for engineering. 

There will be more layoffs, more bankruptcies, more companies fold, and more money printed than at any time in history.The stimulus was just a quick run out to get everything they wanted politically in one quick swoop, all while making Americans feel it was all in their best interest, and giving them false hope that Uncle Sam is coming to the rescue.This is "Politics 101"While unfortunate, It is my honest opinion that we can not rebuild all of this until it completely burns down.