Though it is difficult to find a cash flowing property right now in the Seattle area, I was able to get into rentals a little north of Seattle and am doing well with them. I am a buy and hold investor. I use a PM and do all maintenance as I am a want to do (some PMs will not entertain the owner doing maintenance).
I believe we've got a little housing bubble in the PNW and it is going to burst at some point. I am not currently looking because of this. I am just growing my stash waiting for prices to normalize.
Because of this bubble, rents are skyrocketing. Every vacancy is at least $100 increase in rent and I thought our rents were fair market value to begin with. It is a pretty amazing ride!
You might have to wait this out or seek investments way out of the area.
I picked up three houses between end of 2010 and summer 2014. They all cash flow well, over 1%, but only because I got steals during the downturn. Now I'm having a hard time finding ANYTHING that cashflows in the area, other than maybe Tacoma, but even then it's tough to find a place that doesn't need a ton of rehab.
I've looked at Spokane, those houses are dirt cheap, and cash flow well, but is it too long of a drive at 4 hours one way? Hiring a PM takes too large a cut from my profits to the point it's almost not worth it, BUT...I may very well move to Spokane for the cheap housing in retirement, which would theoretically allow me to keep my cashflowing AND equity growing Puget Sound properties, or I could 10-31 exchange them for rentals in Spokane. Never been so might be worth taking a road trip to see how the area is.
One "dream" is to relocate to Florida, better weather, lower cost of living, and I can buy about 5 rentals with my stash. But won't do that until I am actually ready to pull the plug, at which point I should be able to replace my six figure income from 10+ rentals in Florida. At that point, in a paid off house with a six figure income from rentals and a cost of living of about 15K a year, I think I'd rather work "part time" managing my rentals than keep on my current career track.