We're just starting to speculate for a move.

I'm saying the American middle class is trained into a very high expectation that they must be paid for their work, to the point where it becomes incredibly difficult for them to do any work on any speculative terms for which they are unsure of the terms of payment.

Undoubtedly, some banks will not do that, but either way is speculating.

The problem I see is that you are looking for guaranteed growth, but real estate investing is also speculative.

Equity Build UpCashflow is always a base requirement, without CF it's speculation. 

You are looking at purely speculative buys, forget about positive cash flow ever.

It is premature and speculative and is not helping the conversation.

Pure speculation on my part

It could be only 1-2%, for those that are relatively new construction and in the areas where you would expect the most appreciation, up to 8%+, on older product in more speculative areas (and just for clarity, I'm talking about an annual figure, not the holding period CoC that some of the online calculators are producing...

I know I can change my strategy and stay in So Cal for the appreciation, but then I feel like there is more uncertainty tied to the speculation game then there is w/ finding a decent prop manager...