The best advise I can give you right now is to educate yourself on real estate investing (a lot of resources available to you), so you have some general idea of what would be acceptable by the means of society as well as comparison of what other people are getting.

. #1: Warm water and warm weatherIt all comes down to personal preference but to me, as an avid snorkeler and SCUBA diver, there is no comparison between Hawai'i and these locations in FL.

I have a software that can show multiple scenarios side by side so you can see the payments and other details for comparison if you are needing more information to help you make a decision.

Discount/buy-down points are discretionary to the buyer and should be zeroed out for an apples-to-apples comparison.

If someone can provide a model to work from to begin a comparison, that would be super appreciated. 

Each market has pros and cons, but most plays will be made for cash flow and not as much for appreciation, especially in comparison to the West Coast markets.

I might as well ask another question since on this topic, is there a way to determine flood insurance costs and comparisons using the tools for the Houston and surrounding areas?

Even if my initial assumptions are off, my analysis seems to place a heavy case that the California State Income Tax pales in comparison to the savings I receive in Proposition 13 over a 10 year horizon.Is there anyone else coming to that conclusion or have done an analysis which counters my findings?

The only problem is the home is probably worth about $130-135k (just on a comparison I did online, not an appraisal or from an agent) and the mortgage is for $148,400.

I just did a comparison of Buy & Hold & Subject To that might be what you are looking for.