My name is Paul Moore (Call me Paulie please) and I live in Olympia, Washington state.

I believe in the future of Los Angeles and think that if you buy in a decent neighborhood (looking in parts of Hollywood, Echo Park, Mt Washington, USC adjacent, and other transforming areas of LA), get a tenant to pay the mortgage, then repeat as often as your capital allows, you will look up in 20 or 30 years and have both substantial income and massive asset base.   

At the time, I was a freshly minted Second Lieutenant stationed at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. 

Li Wa, I'm very surprised to hear that Upper Darby is that bad...I have scoped out several neighborhoods in and around Philadelphia and Upper Darby remains one of the cleanest and spacious (few if any row houses)   There are patches of not so great streets, but for the most part I don't see anything overly negative about it.  

Like Denzel Washington said in movie "Philadelphia", "explain to me like I'm a 3 year old".Please outline the steps it takes to go from A to Z.Thanks in advance

I currently have a short sale in process in Tacoma Washington, the negotiator countered my offer 13k more.  

@Victoria Bonhomme  price per square foot is a TERRIBLE metric for figuring prices. 

Say you can only rent the main unit at $1,600 (up $200 from today) you’re still making a square $4,875 which makes the deal look attractive.Yes I’m playing with the numbers, but the property really is beautiful in that it is solid, low maintenance, great location, and has good appreciation potential with the neighborhood, including being next to a foreclosed house that based on the cracked foundation, we assume will be a teardown. 

This is in Washington State.there are 3 of us in the deal.  

There are probably plenty of towns in Oregon and Washington that would work for you, both in terms of climate and economics.