Determined by drivers like job supply and renter demographics. 

My job requires me to be equidistant from downtown SFO and Silicon Valley and so I am considering investing in Hayward, CA.

I'm a 23 year old working with my dad and hopefully turning this into a full time job (in engineering now but would love to transition to real estate full time). 

Thank you for the advice it really made my job a lot easier.

I think you’ve got to find a secondary or tertiary market with a ton of population growth and jobs coming.

At the end of the day that is my job (yes an estimator), so mainly my job is looking at a project and coming up with a price and make a profit after all the work is done.

I’m renting 1 room out for $950/month, condo is currently cash flow negative by ~$400/month but I don’t mind because a stipulation to my loan (VA Loan) was that I needed to live in it for one year, I’m currently paying $1650 to cover the rest but a 1 bedroom rental in this zip would be upwards of $1,800 + utilities) Currently working 3 jobs and running a small online business to save as much as possible to make my next move.

I'm saving 30% of my income from one job and all my income from a second to have more money to invest, whether it's in another property, tax liens, etc. 

Agents/brokers work for others and it's just another job. 

Changing a flapper on a leaky toilet is a 10 minute job and less than $10 in parts.