Where to Start for Buy and Hold?

[Robin L.]

New here. My husband and I bought our first home about 5 years back. It was a foreclosure and needed a lot of work. After  less than 2 months in our new home I was laid off and we couldn't afford the mortgage. We poured our blood, sweat and tears into that house fixing it up for 2 months and ended up selling it for a $120K profit (and avoided capital gains because I got a job in another state) Needless to say, I got hooked on real estate. I absolutely love that I can take one man's trash (or the bank's trash) and pour my heart into it and turn it into a nice home for a family wanting a turn-key property and make a nice profit for me too. It's a win-win-win. 

For the last few years we have been focused on raising our little babies, but I have been reading and learning all I can about real estate investing. My goal is long-term goal is wealth building and financial freedom from the 9-5. As much as I loved flipping our first house, I don't need fast cash, so I am thinking buy and hold would be a good strategy for me. 

Almost all our cash is tied up in our house, probably about $150K in equity. We currently live in southern California, and there aren't many good deals available for buy and hold and I really don't want to try to manage rental properties from out of area. We also really dislike living here and would love to move elsewhere. We've been searching for a cheaper, more rural place to live.

When we move, we'd like to use part of that equity to buy a place to live and house hack by either buying a duplex or a home with a in-law suite that would cover our mortgage so our income from our jobs could fund future rental purchases. Then use the other part as downpayment for another rental.

Any advice? Encouragement? How'd you get started in real estate?