I have 100k. What should I do?

[Jacob Prelle]

After a year of vague forum posts, let's get personal.

My wife and I have 100K. No debt. 

We rent a townhouse, at $1,700 a month in Orange County, California. Currently we make a combined $160k.

Our end goal is to have relatively passive income of ~$10k a month. (if possible)

We have thrown around the idea of buying a house in Cali (~400 to 450k), and (if possible) simultaneously a tri or quad in another state. Our target price for the income property is ~250k which would make our down payment about 65k.

If we go FHA on our home back in Cali, we could be looking at a down payment of around 15k. Taxes, closing costs on both properties might wipe out our 100k.

I'm tired of speculating and guessing in my own head. What do you all think? What steps should we take? Should we scrap the buy and hold ideology?