I live in Southern California Los Angeles area, have a W-2 job in Irvine and no expenses or debts, with an excellent credit score. 

Another plus of the boot is the visual and social pressure, especially in a large complex.

FEMA's floodsmart.gov website used to let you look up an address and it would tell you the risk factor.

I'm sure we've all seen them in our towns, large retail strip centers, the facades look old and dated, the center is 50% occupied at best.  

Then I just started looking up properties on auction websites that were in my hometown after I saw my old neighbors house had been sold for about 1/2 of the value of the land...This is when I realized that there were potential deals that I would have a better insight on because I was familiar with most of my hometown and where people want to live and do not want to live.

@Andres Jaramillo Check out the recent topic here on BP discussing the same question, albeit in more general terms:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/519/topics/485592-best-way-to-invest-a-large-lump-sum-of-money-100-300k

@Patti Robertson, that was an excellent post.  

Use your project management passion to BRRRR your way to a large portfolio or take on multifamily value add deals. 

Do you have MS Excel?

These are 2 areas with excellent growth, commutable to san diego (25 min)  excellent schools, etc.