Tampa Bay area  Florida, near Clearwater Beach.   

Long Beach State University is just down the street so we could even rent to students from September through May only, and have the place to ourselves during summer, which is when we utilize the backyard the most. 

I work along the coast from Miami to Vero Beach.

A bit about ourselves in order to frame the discussion:  newbie investors, both work full-time, live in San Diego, CA, possess two investments and a primary residence, looking to invest in Norfolk/VA Beach/Chesapeake, Virginia, and will have $60-70k annually to invest. 

The rentals in this area are high due to proximity to the beach, so we will eventually rebuild there.  

People go on vacation and choose to stay at a house on the beach, not a hotel, but they want hotel-like service.  

I do know that our Mission Beach duplex has had the best appreciation total of any of our RE (purchased $375k in 1999, current value ~$1.2m).  

The real grant is walking around an exotic beach somewhere without a shirt on telling us In a video message to only buy a 10 million dollar apartment for our first investment and never buy a home  .

There is also Tidewater Real Estate Investors Group (TRIG) which is a much larger REIA in Virginia Beach (trigofva.com).

@Zachary Beach Why would a bank close a HELOC?