Keep this to a single page.

I am leaning on local first for my next investment, but not ruling out an out-of-market opportunity. 

We are buying two houses right next to each other.

According to this webpage on the CA govt website ..."

So, your focus may need to pivot from high rental cash flow to little to no cash flow as a rental with an appreciation upside.I would recommend taking your $150K to $200K and securing a solid equity position in something that will cover its expenses and maybe provide a small cash flow, but then is poised to appreciate nicely over the course of the next several years. 

Quote from @Jeff Anderson: Hey BP, I finally took the plunge and joined the community.

we ran into this in FLA  a few years back when I had 4 starts and I exited that market.. permits  sub base all pretty tough for someone who is not there and already knows the systems hands down and has a devoted loyal sub base.. thats the key in my mind.

That’s fine but how big is the gain?

The Contractor is wrongly blamed for job over-runs when it is usually the clients fault.

Here's the problem - in order to be fully dialed in the model needs to be unstable.