what advice would u give to someone looking to possibly invest in MULTIPLE properties in southern california area?

Work with a good buyer's agent who knows the local market.

And make sure he/she is someone that you get along with

Talk to the agent, see what their experience is. Honesty and ethics are hard to judge on the phone, or by email, but see what your gut says. The best investments are not always the least expensive homes. It is still a hard market to flip homes in- the margin often is not there. If they are looking for something to fix and rent out for awhile, that is a differnt story. The best bargains, the REO's that are trashed and WAY below market, often are gone in a day or less.

I work here in Southern California- Los Angeles and Ventura County, and have a few investors I am looking for different properties for. I just showed a million dollar home- it is a short sale and needs some work. The exact same floor plan down the street just closed at $1,400,000, in perfect condition, beautifully upgraded. It will be a great investment for someone, if they have the ability to carry it and do the work. Because of the specific areas they are looking in, we haven't found quite what they want.

My wife and i were thinking of moving out to Orange County and the only piece of advice i can offer is find a fab agent. We were lucky in that we found a great woman and we are keeping it on the back burner because we would like to buy property over there in the next couple of years, but the lady we found was so informative and helpful i would certainly recommend her to anyone in socal

My advice is to find a funding source(unless you are a cash buyer) prior to talking to agents,
Of course a good agent will help you with this also.

Agreed, but also do your own homework - research the locations, neighborhoods and properties. Understand the market condition is very important. There are a lot of bargains out there.

Work with a good buyers agent that specializes in investment property and/or working with investors.

1. Real estate goes in cycles and as long as you have the holding power, you'll never lose money in real estate.

2. The housing price will never sink below the replacement cost of the property. The first responder stating 50% loss is not knowledgeable in real estate.

3. rates are still historically low