Buy personal residence in Bay Area or out of state turnkeys?

[David Echeverria]

We just accepted an offer on our house and should have around 180-200k in equity after the agent commissions and closing costs.  I know it's been asked a thousand times but I have to ask.  We are wanting to move to a better school district (Fremont, CA) and have been looking for a personal residence over the last couple weeks but the market is CRAZY in the Bay Area, especially where we are looking.  My question to everyone is if you were in our shoes, would you continue to look for a personal residence in the area or try to find a rental in the area that also would allow our dog and use the equity to buy some out of state turnkeys (thinking of Birmingham since my wife's sister lives just out side the area and could right of travel as a business expense).  Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.