Maybe bag groceries at the local store.When I started, title plants consisted of large books known as tract books where documents were indexed geographically with the entries made by hand by people known as posters. 

High yield savings account, real estate debt fund or divide up the $100,000 between HYSA and index funds/stocks (with a higher percentage going towards HYSA if you want be more cautious). 

Finally, anything left over (where we are in our finances), we put 50% into index funds (e.g.

Why not just throw the money into an index fund.

The Wall Street Journal/Realtor.com Winter 2023 Emerging Housing Markets Index put the market as the #1 emerging market in America, classifying it as a hot market. https://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2023/outlook/lafayette.htmlI've worked with a lot of investors who have found success investing in smaller markets throughout the state.

Be cautious of cities that aren't proactive in job attraction; too much growth can lead to strict building regulations, affecting housing value.Other Factors- Favor cities with a crime index that has consistently decreased over a decade.- For appreciation, I look for a minimum of 2.5% YoY growth in median house values over the past 20 years but I don't use this explicitly in calculations.

To dollar cost average into an S&P 500 index fund?

I'm still thinking if this is the right move for me given the high property taxes there, hassles of out-of-state management, additional CA taxes, as opposed to simply investing in index funds (which might have more returns).

Home prices across the Big Four remain above pre-COVID prices.Home prices continued to hover around $200,000-$300,000 and $300,000-$400,000, accounting for 26 and 24 percent of total home sales, respectively.The Texas Repeat Sales Home Price Index (Dec 2004=100) fell 0.9 percent MOM but remains 2 percent up from the previous year.

When prices increase well above inflation (Case Shiller index) they adjust back down.