They are getting hammered with all my expenses going up.

If you are a "Robust" type, go hire on as a framer and work that 5 or 6 days a week for 90 days, and (if you make it past the first half day without quiting) you will know if you have any sawdust in your blood.Some questions to ask yourself re what you bring to the table (currently):[1]  Do you own any of the following, table saw, circular saw, sawzall, pneumatic or 22 nail gun, sledge hammer, jack hammer, planner, wood lath?

We had another property in Los Gatos Ca that was hammered during the 2006 period that we later sold for considerably more. 

You've heard the expression: to a hammer, every problem is a nail.

Go out and pick smaller (30,000 or less) towns and sit on them, hammer them, grow them, consolidate them.Start small and make your Big Mistakes Early.

They thought I was crazy when I showed a mock up that looked very basic and not exactly what would be considered "slick".... but renters hammered it.

CA Hammers you ..so take a 500k purchase  and CA state sales tax at 8% that's 40k then the use tax.one reason why the HIGH end motor home industry is based here too.. no sales tax on 1 million dollar coachs but folks that have those know all the loop holes.

The stars are so eager to swing a sledge hammer.

I have some projects on my house that need work but i'm no good with a hammer.

I am telling you a live in flip has not made me more gung ho about real estate, all it has been is more expenses and time for me on swinging a hammer rather than spending my time increasing my income or looking for more deals.