I plan to house hack my first home after I see the impact on COVID-19 has on the market this year and following with wholesaling to grow more capitol to invest in long term rentals here in Cali.

There are so many unknowns right now and if the hysteria over the virus drags on for months and this really does permanently change our way of life (I'm skeptical) with more permanent levels of social distancing or rolling lockdowns or who knows what, you might never see the restaurant industry recover, many types of office space might become obsolete, retail may move almost completely online.

See the difference?  

You will see the points and fees are usually higher than traditional bank loans for the type of loans we need, unfortunately part of the business. 

The economic incentive for an agent is to close the deal, and close it as quickly as possible.Further, on REO's.....most listing agents simply dont even see the offers. 

They drive by and check out the street/outside and use the video to see the inside.

Even if a LL takes the legally allowed max, meaning two months' deposit plus first month's rent, he could see the tenant not pay a penny thereafter, claim the second month of the deposit should be applied to June rent, and the three to six month eviction process would begin only on July 11th, couldn't get into court probably until at least September, because there will be a HUGE wave of evictions for non-payment of rent beginning the minute the courts open July 1st (if even by then). 

@Andrew Lee, out of state investing (OOS) definitely seems scary, because you're right, you don't get to actually see the property in person (unless you travel), and property managers can be expensive, but I would highly recommend you check out David Greene's book on OOS.

I still think we'll see the economy bounce back sooner rather than later, and I don't think there will be too much impact on housing prices overall, but I do think vacation towns could get really hurt.  

Since thousands of people see the listing, the seller should be getting more or less exactly what the property is worth.