You should be able to narrow down your  range. 

Instead, I identified a narrow segment of tenants who consistently stayed for many years, paid rent on time, and took care of properties.

I had three things changed as I visited more brokerages and narrowed down what I wanted.I wish you all the best.

Once you've narrowed down the area you'd like to invest, start analyzing properties, drive around, hang out there, talk to the locals, read local publications to see what's going on, talk to the town's economic & community development people.

If you are not going to buy for a year, you should focus on narrowing down the area and type of property. 

Here are a few followup questions to narrow it down:- estimated credit score?

This also helps with narrowing down what areas you are looking in, which saves time during searches.

Narrow it down a bit.But generally if you stay coastal in Cali, it's tough to beat. 

I would definitely recommend you narrow down a few markets and then try to visit the city you are most interested in and meet some "boots on the ground" contacts.

But I want to narrow my focus before starting too broad.