Currently a nomad in Orange County, and looking to relocate since CA seems expensive for a newbie. 

That is standard smart practice.

I was wondering if that is a best practice, but you may be right!

Dont spend your money until you are ready to practice real estate at least part time.

The worst thing is the seller says no, and even if they do, you get a little extra practice negotiating! 

I certainly will not be offering asking price.I'm interested in this for two reasons;First and foremost if I can get a lower offer accepted, I can make this profitable (I have a few commercial property management teams in mind.)secondly, from a purely academic standpoint, this will be my first commercial building that I get to practice how to valuate commercial real estate, learning new things (such as the issues that come up with a gas station), and connecting with new people in commercial real estate!

We found this distressed seller, negotiated a short sale with his bank and the seller received $10k for relocation!

Here's an example:If your goal is to purchase a buy and hold rental and manage it for a period of at least 5 years, then odds are you'd want to do all the stuff folks above are talking about: join a REIA, research the market, learn about land lording best practices,learn the land lord/tenant laws of the state in which you will invest. 

Have 175K liquid with 750+ credit.My dilemma is there are so many potential markets to relocate and purchase a home and and invest.

There is a lot of image control going on in China right now fighting CoronaVirus, that look good on CoronaVirus, but have little practical benefit.