But purely as a cash flow investment, it will be much harder.

And frankly that is about what felt comfortable (we are fairly conservative) for us to buy, fix up, rent our last place and properly absorbed our purchase....oh and to save up for the next down payment.Also in general we were buying in areas we would live in, hence our focus was a bit more on price appreciation and options vs pure cash flow or returns. 

It was a pure accident.

I'd love to hear from any Colorado real estate agents on which area they recommend from a pure appreciation standpoint.

The interest rates seem to be exactly the same whether it's a "second/vacation home" or a pure investment. 

I haven't used the others so I'm purely going off of what I have heard. 

Only other advice I have — strategize without the goal of pure cash flow.

That said, that is purely from a risk standpoint. 

If I am only cash flowing on a property, (purely hypothetical) $200 a month, and my rent is $1000, after a year $2400 cash flow is almost cut in half just by the tenant placement fee.

As a pure investment, I don't like it, though.