Also if I do buy a house, should I house hack or buy a house for myself?

@Audrey McHugh highly advise your first investment be a house hack property.

Find meet-ups to NETWORK NETWORK NETWORKA lot of people say look into Wholesaling another option is house hacking.

I chose Indianapolis because I know a few other people in CA successfully investing in Indiana and I also have a friend there who is house hacking.

An extra 2 hours a day would be optimal, though.For hands-off, you're best house hacking... buy a multifamily, live in one side and rent out the others.

I am hoping to cover my cost of rent in these locations and house hacking is the best way I know how.

I recently got into my first deal with a private lender in where he was willing to co-sign a conventional loan with me and fund the rehab of my first house hack for a percentage back. 

As rental price increases are a much more secure stat right now.I've talked with a local house hacking aficionado here, very smart (thanks @Brad Hammond!)

This leaves room for multiple exit strategies: BRRRR, house hack, or fix and flip.

Looking for opinions/brainstorm ideas on what my next step should be.Quick backstory; my first ownership was "house hacking" a duplex for a year (fha), purchased a SF for 9 years, sold my SF last year and purchased a patio home dirt cheap at 45k, invested 35k into remodel.Currently own the duplex with a 90k mortgage and worth around 200-210k and the SF patio home as my current primary with a 40k mortgage, worth around 220k.I haven't paid a lot of attention to real estate over the last 9 years, which was a huge mistake looking back and I need to freshen up on some of the research I did 9 years ago when purchasing my duplex.I figured I'd start here with opinions and work backwards.