I'm under the impression that its ran similar to single family homes and like cap rates for the large multifamily.

Use this time to save up and educate yourself a little better before making the next purchase.

Another consideration is that if you do a 1031 exchange back out of CA the state is a "claw-back" state so CA will try to get their capital gains eventually.

I think it is like trying anything new, do your research, find something that looks good (nothing will be perfect and there is always something better) and just do it. 

You'll offset your own living expenses, you can do it for very little down and you'll get some experience landlording and understanding how the tax savings and depreciation work. 

It’s fantastic to see your passion for BRRRR, mid-term rentals, and money lending—those are excellent strategies to build a diversified and thriving real estate portfolio.

What do others use for prompting positive reviews or intercepting negative reviews?

850k roughly Are you planning to keep them as long term rentals for yourself or are you building to sell?

I just want to make sure that I don't end up paying taxes on it like I would if it was a long term property and I sell it without a loan to repay, therefore, it looks like all profits to IRS. 

The experience here on BP is what you make of it.