This is our most successful marketing in terms of ROI and response rate.  

But yes, most apartments are self sustaining in terms of cash flow and expenditures.

That's just a consideration but I think it will go a long way in terms of your learning curve.

Then again, I'm just learning all this so maybe I'm wrong but like I said, it seems that homes in very poor condition are selling for more than a rehab would cost to bring them up to comps in the area.I would imagine that what I want to do with the place is nicer than what I would do with an investment property so that will definitely coming to play with regards to the price of the rehab, but I wouldn't necessarily call it a "dream home" because for me a dream home would be completely custom top-of-the-line everything, like 300k rehab or new home at $200/sqft.For this I'm really looking for primarily structural changes and then say level 4 out of 6 in terms of quality spectrum.

I've been doing my homework and just getting to the point after a few months of analyzing properties and reading all the standard books where I'm going to look at properties that meet my criteria for cash flow & are in my wheelhouse in terms of price & renovation needs.

Hunt for what you already see the investors buying in terms of bed/bath/SF/garage

You are not putting in money on the deal.I'm aware that there are many options in terms of investor financing.

Single family homes have only appreciated a tiny bit from last summer to this summer in terms of average sales price (we are talking like a couple thousand dollars - barely noticeable).  

I actually went ahead and calculated out the difference in option A and B in terms of interest and its really only $1000 difference.

I think one of the big issues that isn't being addressed here is that the Bay Area used to be pretty homogeneous in terms of tech; this is no longer the case.