i've seen a few 2 families on the MLS In my price range. out bidded on one and the rest were too far gone for the price the sell was asking. but I'm working towards finding off market properties, auctions, whole sellers etc.... if I can find a distressed property thats priced correctly I will try my best to grab the opportunity.

I understand cashflow and making money will come in 7-10 years.my situation: I live in the Bay Area but housing is out of my price range.

The caveat to that is that GCs range greatly in quality. 

One reason that the property was listed within our price range at all was due to the fact that the previous owners performed limited deferred maintenance on the property and were eager to unload the property due to a dissolving partnership.

Its appreciation can range from 7 to 17%.  

Inflation is already back down around 3% while the majority of the rest of the western world is still struggling in the 6-8% range. 

Then what's the ideal approx range you recommend?

We definitely learned where we do and do not want to invest and the price range matters.

You would need to have a cost segragation study done to "unlock" the depreciation available on the property (usually 15-30% of the purchase price is a good range to expect).

I would most definitely caution you against the 35-40k range properties that you can pick up on the MLS.