I'm familiar with the Chicagoland and Milwaukee areas so that's where I'd like to start.Vegas would be nice for its proximity to my current location.Los Angeles/Southern California as a long, long-term ownership goal would be great because I just flat-out don't want to live anywhere else. 

Even if you create a non-CA LLC, if you are managing the business from California, you will likely be deemed to be "doing business" in California and therefore likely subject to CA taxes.

I live in California, I am new to real estate and am looking to do some out-of-state investing mostly for cash flow. 

😊CA is a pretty easy state to get wage garnishments, all the while interest in accruing on the judgement, and also you can get bank levies.

I am new to bigger pockets, I am a licensed plumber in Northern California I would like to start obtaining rental properties 

in CA there are companies 10x that size same with Phx  and other large markets with a lot of cash investors.

WEst coast  OR WA AZ NV CA etc is all cash on the barrel head there are no deposits and no over bids.. winning bidder presents the cashiers check and they have won the deal on the spot.

But the steps are the same, just find a property where you ca make the numbers work and that has good upside and go for it. repeat that as soon as you have the downpayment for the next one and keep going. 

It doesn’t matter that the property might be in CA or TX.

In fact, I recently wrote a book about this that explains the laws in California, some of which are nationwide laws.