Best markets for multi family investing

I agree the markets you listed have high cost of entry but Case-Stiller listed Los Vegas #2 and San Diego #3 for appreciation in the last year.  Case-Stiller lists San Diego as #3 for total buy and hold profit for this century.  So San Diego has long history of good buy n hold return and Las Vegas has a good short term record (Los Vegas also had good appreciation in 2016 in addition to #2 for 2017).  

In my view there is primarily one challenge to investing buy n hold in San Diego and that is the cost of entry. Note if you chose to house hack with VA loan (I would recommend a detached duplex) your price of entry is likely less than investing in many OOS markets (probably all OOS RE that has historical appreciation far in excess of inflation). You have earned the VA loan benefit, you should use it.

Just some things for you to ponder before investing OOS.  If you want me to make a more extensive persuasive argument for investing in San Diego PM me.  

Thanks for your service and good luck.