Then house hack a 4 plex to start I am sure you can get into one of those in that market which is lower priced than 90% of the US.  

I've had them long enough to keep pushing up rents so that I am at the top of my niche, but know not to exceed it because I'm just about at the point where if I raised rents another $50-$100 I'd be crossing over into the lower end for larger units.

Don't stress out on picking the prefect name, you can always do a DBA to use.

Most who try to replace their W2 income invest in less sustainable investment methods: investing in lower tier neighborhoods that cash flow well in spreadsheets or flipping homes.

CA has property tax rate that is a little lower than the median.

:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.

So, if your current rent roll is still on the lower side, it could limit the amount you can borrow right now.However, if you have even a partial track record showing improvements.. say a few of the units are already updated and attracting higher rents.. a lender might take that into consideration when underwriting.

This implies residential units can be built at lower costs and provide better return than building a single ADU.11) adding an ADU to SFH can make the SFH fall under rent control.

The down payment might be a little higher, but it will be a much longer-term loan that you won't have to worry about coming up with big payment in month 24 and it'll be amortized over a much longer time period (probably 25-30 years), so the monthly payment could actually be lower. 

There are definitely options for less than $100k, just depends on how much lower - $75k is doable but less than that gets a liiiiiittle tricky (although still doable in some cases).