Rent and Invest or Buy and Wait on Opportunity?

[Melvin Martinez]

I am currently living in Southern California renting at $2850 and currently have $110k saved up. Also some important information is that my rent has been locked(I have been on this rent price for the past 2 years) I am assuming that the landlord will keep us at this price since she told us that we are month to month after the first year. I also asked neighbors that have been there longer(3-4 years) and they still have the same rent. I also have an excess of $1000 a month after all expenses and paid.

I guess what I am asking is should I stay and rent and look for a investment property or buy a property for me and my family. Townhomes/condos are all pretty expensive in the area that I am looking (where I currently live) because there are good school around my area. I can't buy a single family home in this area as I am priced out. If I do buy a house I'll probably be close to house poor with no extra money and probably won't have an opportunity to invest in real estate for a while since most of my money would be tied to my house/townhome/condo. The houses in this area has appreciated pretty well over the past couple years. Only fear is that I also feel that if I don't buy a townhome/condo now I miss out on the opportunity to live in this area if I ever plan to buy a property. 

I have been looking at the market outside of California to look at investment properties. I was looking for properties that were around 100k, that way I can buy it cash and refi with the bank with 20% down and keep the rest of my down payment as a safety net. 

Any thoughts?