You can waste a lot of time looking at bad properties if you don't have a good handle on your calculations.2. find your competitive advantage- Snohomish and King County are full of investors, and to stand out you're going to need to play to your strengths.

We got started via house hacking and have 6 rental properties in Seattle / King County now.

You can waste a lot of time looking at bad properties if you don't have a good handle on your calculations.2. find your competitive advantage- Seattle/King County are full of investors, and to stand out you're going to need to play to your strengths.

@Steven King Welcome to the community, of BiggerPockets!

If the sun explodes, it probably won't matter whether you're a flipper; run a rental property business; or own the local Burger King.

Cash on Cash return is King.

South King and Pierce are undergoing a lot of gentrification as people are priced out of Seattle and move South for affordability.

@Joe LuiWe own and manage our rentals throughout King county, and one in Pierce.

We started with this strategy in 2013 and have 6 properties in King County / Seattle now.Like Gray said, yes a higher purchase price won't change your down payment much but if you're only putting 3.5% down its unlikely that your lender will give you a very high pre-approval amount.