Rental arbitrage long term misses out on so much of what real estate investing can do to make you wealthy financially speaking.

He can fill you in on why the wealthy folks like to invest in the Bay Area. 

It seems to me there are two different types of people working in the real estate industry: 1)The wealthy - the investors, the leveragers, the negotiators, the business owners, the creative types who CREATE wealth.

"Networking..." was his 3rd book and it's more for a salesperson or entrepreneur on how to help market and attract wealthy clients.His first two books were "Marketing to the Affluent" and "Selling to the Affluent".

One way is to find a cash wealthy partner or you can get owner financing if you build a good relationship that takes a few calls.  

Asa wealth building asset a good Bay Area property held long enough will make you wealthy.

-no bank loans-. a big reason I am considering this is because currently I am in the ghetto currently and man it sucks with a capitol S for a multitude of reasons. my bills all in run about 700 currently after that I am free and clear that is how we are saving so much, but the stress of living here takes its toll. and I am not willing to move until I own a duplex I would rather eat dirt then not hit our goals and make our dreams come true of truly owning our lives and time.I would just get a mortgage but due to all my income currently being from my GI bill stipend it is not considered permanent, thus rendering me unable to get a conventional mortgage, and due to her culture until we are married. which we are putting off until I am done with school because of how rough engineering is we don't want to get a mortgage in her name. making all other options pretty difficult making this one an actual viable option to do.I have done the math with out saving rate, and how it would increase when we bought the duplex. by doing this we could have two duplexes with large amounts down mixed with my student loans in a working class area by the time I graduate making cashflows well over the amount I need to pay the loans and then some, then use my va loan for the third and rush to pay those student loans off. doing this with at least this first one if I never used student loans again would make my housing situation infinitely better and help us save and invest even more then. and I wouldn't have to sleep with my gun under my pillow every night. so I am really sold on doing it once so far sense I don't have many other options and am in a unique situation.I am really moving towards doing it just this once. and seeing how it goes before I do it again. what do you all think?

I have laminate, cultured marble, corian/solid surface, and granite at various locations. 

At the same time, I know that real estate is generally a "get wealthy slowly" kind of business (significant wealth and retirement doesn't happen overnight).So this got me thinking - how long do you think a investor should stick with their chosen niche before they see results?

If your interest is in building long term wealth, I would focus on growth markets and make sure to research, research, research if you intend to go far afield.