My wife and I want to move closer to where we work (Sunnyvale, CA) to avoid a long commute and are debating whether we should sell out current house or rent it out.

After I sold my home in San Jose, California a few years ago, the buyers didn't move in because they applied for a building permit to turn the place into a McMansion.

My wife and I's conclusion was that as beginners we rather start in CA even if 3 hours away than out of state where I cant drive in a day.

In California*

Inner city has the most upside given the prices & demand is driven by tenants not owners.

You're in a big enough city to find the right guy.A lot of these textured ceilings were put to keep the finishing on a ceiling to a minimum.

I live in Orange County in California and am looking to invest in Dallas due to the affordable cost of real estate, the landlord friendly laws, my family that knows of a good property manager there, and it is a buyer's market.

However I do live in California and not happy about loosing out on prop tax, as the state tax is around 8-10% already.

For example, a city tax? 

Like usual, I called what I thought was a bluff and they accepted the offer before it expired that day.Comps for four unit houses are hard to find for this city, but from what I found on Zillow doing comps it was worth 526K.