You have to know which neighborhoods and property types have the highest potential for appreciation given changing demographics and the underlying health of the local economy.I have a feeling that giant sucking sound of dollars flowing out of California will meet with disappointment ...

No fencing, no high tech, no climate control.Michael - I've thought of going the outdoor route as well.  

Which is like a giant credit card for your house.

The potential profit is more than just a great income, but also it is fast, no contingencies, all cash with all concerned making a reasonable profit.Too many investors want the Big Home Run – the giant profit – NO – not me – I’d rather take a smaller profit but do many deals – at the end of the day the little profit on many deals is my HOME RUN!

I know the place is blowing up, and some large tech companies (one of which I work for) are moving to the area.

There is a strip mall vacate for several years and an office vacant(high tech 200,000 sf with big parking lot in Silicon Valley, CA with NO TENANTS due to stiff rental and difficult landlords(corporations).  

I've managed properties up to 326 units and it is a paperwork chase. for a complex your size you should for sure have a full or 3/4 time maintenance tech and several caretakers. 

Then I came across Clayton Morris' podcast after hearing him recommend it as his pick of the week on TWiT (This Week In Tech).

I figured I would finally reach out and share a little bit of my journey to date.Starting Out in REII started looking to go into REI after about three years of working out of college.I was putting a good amount of my salary away into my 401K, but was eventually overtime (many years) starting to accumulate enough money to either buy some stock or put down a deposit on a house in our area (Purchase Price $200,000).After talking to people that had success with renting and reading all the popular real estate books I could find.I ended up buying my first single family home rental property.Being decently tech and business savvy prior to buying the home I created a business and a website as I wanted to have something to show off.

I am based in North Austin/Tech Ridge area but open to any Austin area events.Cheers!