I think of non-essentials as icing, not the cake. 

I just had my 70th birthday party about 4 week ago and my wife bought a $10 cake.

But I never thought these words would come out of the Dingo :) ...And I'm so excited it did.In times like these, there are so many opportunities that arise.Check Craigslist when you get a moment.Everyone is selling like hot cakes lolIt sucks that the criteria is not the same for other homes and that is a huge indiscrepancyYou want to join in on fighting the legislation?

In essence, this and dozens of other attributes are all baked into the cake long before I come close to acquiring it.

The below does not account for tax benefit's, depreciation and mortgage pay-down, that is a separate page coined "icing on the cake" and with aggregate returns.     

Hey Dom,Folks have and always will be scammed by turnkey providers.Folks have and always will fail when trying to do it all themselves.A few succeed and my fedora is off to them.Many other fail and then it's up to us to make a cake out of crap.I'm bias and think folks should buy turnkey.Then again, I personally wouldn't buy turnkey because I had no issues moving from Australia to Ohio and doing it all "myself."

In looking for a good deal, we are trying to determine a market that would be turnkey friendly and have cash-flowing opportunities (positive of course) with appreciation not necessary but icing on the cake. 

When a downturn hits, I expect all of SF housing to take a hit, with Oakland included in there.Definitely agree that appreciation is icing on the cake and that cash flow should be the priority.

I really think there are some amazing areas there around the city that have good price to rent ratios and huge upside for icing on the cake (appreciation).Keep us posted on deals you have in the area. 

If you mean appreciation I agree that that should be seen as icing on the cake if it happens but not be the motivation to buy.