I live in Irvine, and if anyone else lives near by and wants to carpool and commute to L.A let me know.

I am guessing that it was worth about 200k since the last few properties near by have been sold around there.

Having family nearby and having some familiarity can offer a significant advantage as well as psychological comfort, which is hard to underestimate when starting out.

It might seem easy to buy a place and avoid hotel costs, but there’s opportunity and logistics to that (what if you’re units are rented out) and if you just want an investment why not buy near by if your market works?

In other words, all the stuff that the government is suggesting you have in your emergency stockpile.

Once this is determained then I can look for deals nearby.

I'm in ongoing conversation with a new investor an hour away interested in my area, and had a coffee date with another nearby investor starting out.

I also like talking to any nearby retail/corner store/liquor store owner to ask what's going on.

A couple of things to consider:  1) new construction is booming in both of these areas - this can work in your favor for purchasing older/existing homes, especially as demand grows for new homes (with a typical starting retail price around $230-240,000);  2) If you are willing to get a 3bd/1ba or 3bd/1 1/2 you can see significant price savings so that you can hit your target number (e.g 70% ARV - repairs).I'm not sure what other resources you are checking but you might want to keep these sites in mind to find deals:For the Richmond Hill area keep an eye on FSBO sites including www.militarybyowner.com - as TJ mentioned there is a large military presence due to nearby Ft.

This allows you to stock pile money faster and thus afford a down payment to refi and or get to the 80% threshold bc the property will appreciate 5-6% in 5 years, thus decreasing the margin you will need to refi at.The key is appealing to the overall amount he will make from the sale.