We had to go ahead and sign as this property and situation was quite unique where the owner HAD to sell for health reasons.

Hmm this must be a bug unique to you.

Most of the negative things I've heard stem from the fact about 70% of the residents in the areas are renters vs. homeowners and the market is flooded/competitive for rentals (I've looked up some numbers and they do seem to be roughly in that range).My thought process (I'm a newbie, but still) is that if the place has decent PM or self-management and is priced fairly it will rent *shrugs*.

Doing a bit of research I've looked up a few popular REITs and noted that those DTI ratios are within a range of 45% - 80%.

I won't know expected cap ex needs until I find the property I want to buy, but I suppose I can always budget in my savings for a certain amount and only go after properties that fall within that range.

If looking in the best rental price range around 100k you can plan on 15-25k on average.We go direct to seller and try to buy them at a discount.

Buyer was ready to offer $810k, but comps only supported $740k... so the seller's accepted our $740k offer over other higher offers because it was well supported by the buyer's agent and they (apparently) felt that everyone else was throwing spaghetti at the wall.Very unique, and I don't think it's part of a wider pattern (so far), but an anecdote for you.Incidentally our Bay Area crew on BP is quite active and helpful, don't hesitate to reach out to anyone.

Hi Landon, Do you have a price range in mind? 

If the property doesn't appraise in that range, I am prepared to pull cash out of my working capital to subsidize the difference.  

My current thought is to buy and rehab homes with an ARV in the sub-$100k range, since it seems possible to hit 1.5 to 2.0% rental rates.I have a great contractor on board, but there are still a lot of holes in my plan.