Older newbie looking to BRRRR

[Justin Mann]

I am encouraged by all the younger people starting out and love to see all the success here.  I am not exactly new to owning real estate, or even renting, but I need to employ some different techniques that I am now learning from BP to grow my portfolio and move towards financial independence.  Here in CA I currently have a primary residence with significant equity, a paid off 3 bed 2 bath condo, and a paid off vacation cabin in Southern Utah.  The condo was rented successfully for 5 years but is now occupied by my mother so the rental income is no longer there (gotta take care of those that took care of you!).  My W2 as a medical device engineer is demanding of my time and pays the bills but that is about it currently and we live on a pretty skinny budget (newest vehicle is 14 years old, no CC debt, etc).

Now for the meat of my question. I am intimidated by the idea of going after a market far away from my home in CA. I do not get much time off from work and am unwilling to give up what little vacation time I get with my family to travel for investing. At the same time the market near me is notorious for high prices. I feel like 100k cash on hand is not sufficient to successfully BRRRR in my market, am I missing something? I do have an excellent property manager who is himself a young investor that I trust and am willing to complete the rehab myself evenings and weekends if not too far from home (I am extremely capable with construction/handyman type stuff) so if I can find a deal and solve the problem of entry cost I should be ready to go.