Bay Area remains a a strong job producer and the prices of duplexes have not yet recovered following the start of the pandemic. 

Partially due to the Pandemic, but also due to the state of the real estate market.

A lot of these southern beach & mountain towns have been supporting STR for 75+ years, long before Airbnb was a thing, so they’re very comfortable with it and it’s a built-in part of the community.3) The Southern half of the US is more forgiving if your property is out of service for a couple months (a flood, property damage, coronavirus) bc you earn year-round revenue.

If this pandemic continues, it could get very, very bad.

Very noob guy here.I bought my first home to live in when the pandemic first started, and now I'm looking to get my feet wet by BRRRR-ing my first rental property.As you know, the Bay Area is insane when it comes to prices even for a home at 75% of its ARV.

Cash flow isn't quite as easy to come by as it was pre-pandemic, but it's certainly still there.

I was PT for a year until I got super busy, and then the pandemic hit ( a blessing in disguise) and we I went remote at my job.

That being said, you can also go these routes: Creative Financing: as Elliott mentioned, negotiable interest rates is the fast way to ease expenses and create positive CF, along with the reduced closing cost.Out of state investing: you mentioned your willingness to learn more about out of state investing, now I am not too familiar with the Orlando RE market -  but I assume the influx in people flooding into Florida during the pandemic certainly raised prices across the board.

Pre-pandemic, a slight majority of my guests were international travelers.

As mentioned, 100% is NOT advisable, especially with pandemic, election, and rates at near zero.