It looks like I should perhaps supplement my stocks with real estate instead of looking at it as one vs. the other.

@Alec Norman One option to consider is to get a SFH and rent out the lower level to supplement your cash flow.

Here are my two cents:If you stay in Indy you will essentially be walking away from an income which can be good if you know that you will be able to put together a strong deal flow which will supplement the lost income, and the increase which you would have achieved should you have taken the job out here in CA.  

This would just be a supplement to those funds for a project. 

So pretty nice supplemental income.

Grandmother had dementia/Alzheimer's, we had power of attorney, deeded the house over to our name, and now the rental income is supplementing her medical bills. 

It's basically seller financing as a second mortgage to supplement the first.

If the property does not sell soon after the rehab is complete, we will rent it out so that we have supplemental income to cover the cost of the loans from the hard money lender and the original seller.

I currently work in the Supplement/Sports Nutrition industry and have a background in health insurance. 

I would probably bet that you can never stop learning about this massive subject, however i would like some good old fashioned books to flip through to supplement my education.