:@Engelo Rumora -- It's only going to get better with many selling off due to the lead ordinance.I can't want,The cheese is here and the cat is waiting for the mice to come out and play hehehe

hey Danielalways play the advocate with older homeslook for all the right stuff that needs to be brought up to codeif the numbers make sense and you can get your investment to pay off in the long or short run then I would consider the purchasemake sure you look at comps on like properties in your area and also the rents you don't want to get yourself into a pickle by over rehabbingenjoy

@Caleb Heimsoth You can use what is called the 50% to run a preliminary estimate of expenses on potential rental purchases.Ex; House rents for $950 assume that you will need to spend $475 to operate said property every month.This is of course just an estimate as there is always an unlimited number of variables at play which will cause your property to perform better or worse than any pro forma at any given point in time.

CA is a very dynamic market ... there are always good investment strategies to be played, but if you are a one trick pony you have to be either very very good at that one trick or very patient to wait for the market to be aligned with your strategy.

I agree that CA is boom and bust state and that is partly due to politicians and the short term distortions mentioned ... it is a wonderful thing for investors who know how to play the volatility to their advantage, and can really hurt those who don't.

I will be investing $1,000 just to earn my MLO license, and another $1,000+ for my real estate license to what equates to a sales person job.Pitching and qualifying clients with all the new and ever changing lending laws, only getting paid when I close a transaction which can be months apart from paycheck to paycheck.Right now I'm unemployed and I see myself homeless, destitute, and unhappy playing the W-2 game.

@Steve Vaughan  If Meghan is worried then she should cash out.. nothing wrong with that.Others play the long game it all cycles.. so nothing wrong with that as well.depends on your event horizon . 

Maybe consider a different scenario more akin to the P/E plays out there.  

My play is add some value through improvement and sell once the market has corrected.

Lets assume these were the only two options available, which would be the smartest play?