@Adrienne Green is a wonderful resource if you want to learn more about the surrounding Southeast TN/Northwest GA areas. 

@David DyeI'm here in the Inland Empire. 

Seth was how I started in land. 

I was advised by realtor to look along 75 till Mckinney/Anna/Melissa or look at Fort Worth area with Keller/Northwest ISD school districts. 

. $400k does not buy you much of a home in SoCal or even in the inland empire.  

I bought my house for less than it appraised for, about 30k under what it would sell for in this market.As for my area, San Francisco and Oakland rent dropped but the more inland areas are still high and continues to grow due to the people leaving the heart of the bay area.

Although now I am trying to find the right way to study more, there must be statistic or so to study to have numbers make sense .For now focusing on BC or maybe NB , but I do not discard AB for sure, like many I looked into Calgary last year :) .I should reach out to know more about the inland market though , thank you Edit: sorry at mention do not seem to workHi Nicolas,As others said the first thing is to talk to a bank or mortgage broker (I recommend an investor focused mortgage broker) and find out how much you can borrow.

@Brandon Miller , I buy and hold on the far northwest side primarily.

Another idea would be to start in land. 

Take a close look at Northwest Indiana.