I already had my own business, some cash, lines of credit and a solid contractor as a partner which is how I have grown my portfolio so aggressively over the past few years.Unfortunately, $8k is not going to get you very far despite the promises of no money down investing.

just to be candid, unless you're using some kind of creative strategy... you need a really solid amount of cash including reserves. 

Go to one of the REI bibles and get really solid on the basics so that your foundation is solid and you purchase well.  

Or the 6k houses that burn down in Napa and Sonoma counties  U just dont hear about it because it was not LA and the rich and famous.. the Napa fires are the exact same scenerio Atlas peak is solid brush and its burn 3 times in my lifetime but this time there was homes built right next to it and again freak winds downslope winds  that caused this..

It’s a way to earn solid returns without the day-to-day work.

It's still a good market for long term rentals but the returns are not what they were 10 years ago - but if you can get past overly optimistic suggested ROI, it's a really solid market.

A few rentals along the way but realistic on returns 5 to 6% for solid A/B class is where we like to be.

As an investor here myself, I can tell you we're seeing solid rental demand here thanks to the strong job market and major employers developing here. 

I retired from ortho in less than 10 years bc of solid investments but he will be forever the loser DB with a garbage reputation peddling info you can easily find on your own. 

Don't trust what ANYONE tells you about a market without solid data to back it up - this includes claims about how many transactions they've done or a single example (that's often from several years ago).