What advice would you give to someone who lives in Silicon Valley in the Bay Area when it comes to performing market research and selecting zip codes to search for deals?

Take advantage of all it has to offer.

It's a lot more work, but it has a huge advantage in that you'll learn about your target audience - what motivates them, what turns them off, what languages they speak, etc.

I respectfully disagree with the last post regarding umbrella limit selection.

Here are some recommendations for you:Find and connect with other BP members that are in your area: http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet Set up keyword alerts to be notified of the topics that interest you: http://www.biggerpockets.com/alerts Read Beginner’s Guide: http://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investing If you wish to tag someone in the conversation on the forum, type @ followed by their name and then select the name of that person which should appear below the comments box.

I agree with some of the others above about using it to your advantage when looking to purchase.

Aside from from marginal advantages anymore - the small local and community banks are the way to go for me.  

Make sure to take advantage of all the benefits of the site

Basically, the best deals come out of situations where human suffering is at maximum and someone is in a desperate haze to get out of some terrible situation, which makes them unable to take advantage of the regular market.

I'd like to respond to each reply--and I hope to do so later--but right now I'm in the heat of getting two units under contract.Yes, I got enough good applicants to make selections.