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?

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.

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

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?

.: Is it legal, per the IRS, to rent my primary home back to myself? 

I paid just half of the price on it and have now made 50% appreciation on an unfinished home ..or 100% ROE on what I have actually paid.

Selling vacant is easier, but if you can't/don't want to vacate the property investors will still look at tenant occupied homes 

Why not just buy a new primary and rent out your current home.