Thanks @Aaron Norris...I'm located in Menifee which is in Riverside County, near Temecula.

Flip is the more logical thing to do but because of the “trendy” location, many investors I speak to tell me that it might make sense to hold it for appreciation.

It’s located north of the river.

If its the latter,   The building has great location and potential,  but they may be in trouble if things soften up.  

Greetings @Sean Patrum,  I am also located in Charleston, SC and own my own business in the food service industry.  

If you can locate a property, put it under contract, and show him a plan with numbers on why it makes sense then he might be more willing to consider rental properties.  

I did this because I have aspirations to invest internationally in several locations in central and south America and didn't want to just talk the talk or be a wantrepreneur, rather put myself in the field and put the building blocks together myself..I am currently waiting for the CA Bureau to approve my license application so I can take the test to receive my RE license (completed the course work in Spring of 2018 while going to school full time, working part time).

Hi Anna, I am a licensed contractor located in South Florida.

I can already see you have an extensive knowledge and seems to be working for you.

----------------------------------------------SO............ my personal experiences seems to be far different than those that are really stating that these higher priced MSAs are not good for investing.BUT, as you can see, I have been incredibly successful by investing in these higher MSAs, but in my specific locations in Brooklyn, looking for higher rental appreciation and value appreciation as well as a large supply of great tenants and low crime.When I now go back to the article, which really is a bit misleading from the Headlines, here is the remaining part of the New York area statistics that I left out above:10.