Getting money, almost impossible.

The 1031 scares me as it takes me an average of about 1 year and looking at hundreds of properties to find just one, so the short timeframe feels impossible to find several in other markets to use up all of the funds.  

Because once it starts it’s almost impossible to stop.

Learn how calculate cash flow It's not impossible and it has tons of benefits, I just always recommend for beginners to simply just do one of the two (rent or flip) master the formulas behind that, and then move to the next one and do a BRRRR.

.- Feels impossible to buy in the Bay Area again.

That said, flipping isn't impossible--it's very possible to find the right kind of deals.

Finding out that info at the beginning is very important as if the bailbond company or the other judgment plays hardball it may make the deal extremely difficult or impossible to get done depending on the amount of money they want to release the lien.

If it is not a primary residence it is considerably harder but not impossible. 

One option is splitting utility meters, but that can be expensive and hard if not impossible to do in old buildings.

There is a lot of hype around this model right now but I'd say buyer beware, without experience these projects are impossible to underwrite correctly.