I have a long list of potential cities, but am having a difficult time narrowing that list down using any sort of consistent standards.

I'm also from the city trying to look at other markets to start as well.

Pretty much everyone in my area charges 10%, especially for a small portfolio.On another note, I love Peachtree City.

having spent a decade in the timber business in Oregon I call it Oregon porch time.. these are not inner city dwellers these are folks that you need to sit with and talk  have coffee and build reporte'if the homes are nice and clean and saleable probably tough to buy under market unless your good at looking someone straight in the face and telling them their 300k home is only worth 200k.. that is a moral issue.Also be aware that you CANNOT legally sell a home you are not in title to in Oregon.. its selling real estate with out license and don't listen to all the people from all over the country that wholesale.. many states its an accepted practice in Oregon it is not.Also if your flipping homes IE coming into title you also need a developers license in Oregon  talk to @Karen Margrave she just got an education on this.. the state is cracking down on flippers.. its a 5k fine.. usually 1k first time. 

How would you do this in a big city like LA.?

cash buyer with $300k. any deals yielding over 10% in high growth urban cities/college towns?

I recently acquired a 4 families property in Union City NJ.  

Are you familiar with the city?

For example, I used to live in Berkeley, CA, where it is extremely difficult to evict tenants, even when the owners want to move back to the unit, sometimes the city would ask the owner to find other homes if tenants have been living there for some time.

Anybody from a major city that only has cash that can’t be verified in any way would immediately tell me they are a drug dealer or stripper or worse