Hi @Wilhelm Nothnagel As someone who lives in SF, is an out of state RE investor, and has two kids in SFUSD public schools, here are a couple of thoughts from my perspective:1) If you choose to live in SF, you can find a good public school, especially an elementary school, if you don't just look for the "top-rated" schools but get out, go on school tours, and talk to parents who send their children to those schools.

In other words to bring it back to this thread would you, assuming you were in an earlier stage of your investing like most of us, go after 2% markets or go after higher appreciation markets if doing so meant sacrificing any hope of cash flow after mortgage payments?

Hi Tom, I'm in the beginning stages of starting my rental property business north of you in Clarksville.

For the "serial" rehabbers:  At what stage of a rehab do you start looking and planning for your next flip?  

You and your mom would get money out of the deal and could move on to another life stage without the complications of the house/dad dynamic. 

Just as importantly, my initial numbers (though not ideal) left me room to make some costly mistakes without losing money on the deal.For other potential investors who are still in the “book learning” stage, I’d suggest that you probably already know what a good deal is.

I remember when I was in elementary school a friend of mine told me his parents bought houses, fixed them up, and then sold them.

Overall, all the houses were at their "deferred maintenance" stage in their life.Couple that with the lower rent levels and I opted to not pursue any of them.Kevin

You'd get paid, you'd make a great contact, and you'd get a chance to see the rehab process up close.As you point out, at this stage the real value is in the learning, not the money. 

So as you pass up through the stages of RE success your requirements grow.