We are north of Sacramento by 25 minutes and houses are still relatively affordable.

FYI In Colorado the ski resort communities are blaming STR;s for affordable housing issues.

Now that I’m dealing with the commercial, I have to double the amount of research and learning that has to be done, and a lot of the time I have a hard time finding commercial laws, etc. that being said, if you’re a successful business owner with 40 employees, hopefully you can afford carrying costs with vacancies if you need to slow down, or afford attorney fees to have a good real estate attorney on retainer to save you some research.

People that can afford to go on a nice vacation can afford high gas prices.

It's all up to what you're looking to do and if you can "afford" to break even for a while and wait for appreciation but there's no guarantees with that and could leave you in a tough spot.

SA is also a massive metropolitan with affordable investment properties.

Agree your point not to max out on one property...any recommendation on more affordable markets so i can buy two instead one?

As the market rents have increased, some renters have migrated to more affordable areas.  

I feel it is safer to invest in my first home with a monthly payment that I can afford if all goes south. 

While we could probably afford this, I'd like to explore leveraging private money to fund a down payment in addition to our own funds.Where can I get more information about taking private money - be it from a friend, family member, etc. - and using this in conjunction with our own money for an owner-occupied MFH?