I have comps pulled, and my next step is to get a contractor/estimator out here to give me a better idea of rehab costs.

Many have been burned by relying on their estimates.

Plus most hard money lenders will require a fair market appraisal.If you plan to rent, you already have that documentation plus the appraisal will provide estimated rents.

I'm trying to buy my first investment property with ~$100k saved up.My brother started his first W2 job last month that pays $45k/yr+ commissions.I plan to get a minimum wage job/an entry W2 job since I'm still in college and to hopefully qualify for a bigger loan.A lender estimated we'd be eligible for a $300k loan with $100k down, and a $2,500/mo payment on a $400k property with only my brother's income as of now.California is too expensive for us so I have been looking into out-of-state investment properties.What would be the best investing route for us to take to grow our wealth?

So I take what you have and what you expect, estimate the time it would take in a whole year of work and create my flat rate.I notice short term rentals are about 1 hour a month of work per property, since we need to track each property's Profit & Loss for Tax time, this is also tracking a mortgage and depreciation as well for that property.

@Lauren SanfordI barely learned I could resell and estimated around 50k at 0%.

Stock market returns estimated to be much lower next 10 years.

Just get lots of estimates, as they can differ by thousands.

No I have not been in person, and what you are describing is exactly what I'm worried about.I will say that I do have a contractor who I trust to do an honest thorough inspection (I requested several references who all gave positive feedback, and the one property I did ask him to inspect he found a major structural issue and immediately told me not to considering buying it).It seems like when most people run into trouble its because their estimates of vacancy, maintenance, capex were all too optimistic.

Manuel #1 Estimating Rehab costs is hard.