That is a great place to start, as well as hitting some local real estate investor meetups so you can meet some other house hackers in person who have done what you want to do.

Investing locally in the Bay Area will come with higher acquisition costs, but appreciation can still build wealth long term, so don't be weary if you're property doesn't cash flow right now the bat.

Hindsight is 20/20, and my education (courtesy of the school of hard knocks called Life) has shaped my approach to real estate investing and how I help others achieve their goals.Since 2021, I’ve been working full-time in real estate, specializing in assisting both local and out-of-state investors in acquiring small multi-family properties and short-term rentals.I would love to meet up with you and further discuss your REI interests and goals.

I often times bounce questions like this off my local RE attorney first and then move forward quickly.  

Does that mean the actual manager or a local contact.

If you end up having a vacancy with no cash flow, it hurts much more than when you are able to offset with cashflow from your other properties.I would recommend seeing if you are able to diversify a bit with some local or out of state properties that do cashflow some, even after Property Management, that way you could start to support these homes.

Quote from @Stephen Smith: Separately, a local roofing contractor was recently caught installing shingles on a BTC property in Cape Coral.  

Reward in RE prices for risk of course.As for horizontal I get mine from local community banks ..

The best place for true private money is usually in your local meet-ups!

Only five of the qualifying 25 local cities saw a population decrease, topped by Bee Cave (-2.7%).