Echo,
The simple rule in investing is buying low and selling high. You want to buy an Apple stock when it is trading in the $60s not at $600. The second rule is to never purchase an investment property that does not cash flow. A woodbury townhome would be considered an Apple stock trading in the $600s. In real estate investing you make money in four ways: net cash flow, appreciation, amortization, and depreciation. Among these four methods, appreciation is where you make the most money in the shortest amount of time.
Let me give you an example of real numbers on an SFR 4bed/2.5 bath investment property I purchased exactly 11 months ago.
Purchase Price is $191,000
Down payment is $45,840 - Initial Cash invested
Exact same home and floor plan recently sold of $250,000 two weeks ago.
Net Annual Cash Flow is $7963
Amortization: $2737
Appreciation: $59,000
Total Return : $69,700
Annual Return 152%
You can see that 129% is made on Appreciation alone, and remaining 23% is allocated between net cash flow and amortization.
When you buy real estate in Irvine, you are not buying an investment, but buying a life style. A very very expensive lifestyle.