I'd recommend staying within 10-15% of the median priced home because that's where the most demand will be not only for renters but owner occupants as well. 

4-5-6 bedroom homes with 3+ baths. 

Just get an umbrella and keep the home in your name. 

I mean I highly doubt( but sure there will be other who say otherwise just because) you will find a very good investment property listed on MLS or other publically available service.On a side note if I did have aprroximatley 400k equity in two of my homes could I use any of that to invest in another property?

I have 2 single fam homes, but want 5-10.

You can get a normal owner occupied home loan to do this. 

Lower property taxes, affordable housing compared to LA (CA buyers are usually cash buyers because what they net from their smaller home in CA can get them a bigger home here, often covered by what they net from their CA sale), allergies (smog), and politics. 

Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice.

Purchase price: $305,000 Cash invested: $80,000Single Family home in a 55+ community. 2 Bed 2 Bath, attached 2 Car Garage.

I work for a flooring company as a designer and meet contractors and people who flip homes regularly so it has me flirting with the idea of doing it myself.My question is, how did you get your spouse to be on board with real estate investing?