@Jake WalrothInteresting, my past experiences have been somewhat flip flopped compared to yours.

I don't want to buy in CA right  now because the house prices are very high compared to rental income and the laws are biased against landlords. 

It sounds like a classic risk/reward issue, not like an "open-shut" case as depicted from all my research I've been doing so far.I'm trying to realize if I'm missing something here, will appreciate your inputs.Please forgive me if this question seems trivial, I tried looking up the answer prior to this post but most of the cases I've seen spoke about different cases (low initial liquid assets / high cash-flow properties + snowballing / etc)Thanks

Decide what is most important to you, use the metrics accordingly, compare those to other available properties, and then make a decision.On this particular property, I wouldn't call it a home run by any stretch.

I believe it was mainly just a prorated portion of the wastewater charge compared to my normal usage, so not a ton, but definitely nice to get back.

Everything is pretty cheap here compared to Seattle.

Soon I would like to take the plunge.My girlfriend and I are not married and do not have any properties yet.In the next 5 years, both will become a reality though.I envision us buying a property or two before marriage, and then buying many many properties as a married couple.Any advice on how to make sure we each are rewarded appropriately for our business efforts?

Compare notes and do what you can to find sold prices near by ie comps for arvs but basically keep looking at deals until you know a good deal when you see it

Gtots do comparables!

The appraiser had a hard time finding sale sales comparables because only 2, 4 plexes sold within the last year in the area. so he did a sales comparable approach (which came out lower than the purchase price) and an income comparable approach (which came out 30k higher than purchase price).