Don't get me wrong, I highly regard education (BS/MSEE & MBA) but looking back the MBA was very interesting to me and I enjoyed it thoroughly but it never really contributed to my income or fit in with my career path in high tech.

I have mixed feelings about providing appliances if that is not the norm in your area because that is just another item for you to maintain. 

But you should look into not mixing the rental income with your W2 income in the same bank account ...

The first person should be an architect that is versed in the type of project you'd like to build (eg, adaptive re-use of an existing building, new construction apartment or commercial, or mixed use)....all this to say you've got to figure out what you can do and what you'd like to do, before you can financially analyze what would make sense to do.This should keep you busy for the time being.  

It seem's pretty  mixed, most lean towards buying.  

:-)FWIW, for other local investors, the Puget Sound Business Journal recently said that West Seattle is *the* hot neighborhood to buy in for the highly-paid California tech immigrants.

Those are good choices where you should get a mix of cash flow and some icing on the cake with appreciation.

It's a matter of whether you want to hold 2-3 and flip one or flip 2-3 and hold one (SFR or MFR) or whatever the right mix is, as your market allows - you have to make the call.

I would definitely consider Hopkinton - it is convenient to 485 and 90 (depending where in town).Framingham is in a great location, however the schools are the worst in the area, and they are assigned so you can't really get around going to whichever one falls in your address (having said that there's a big tech base in Framingham and if you live nearby, good chance your job is there).

IMO the data is pretty mixed right now for Bakersfield.