While California may present some challenges for investors due to high property prices and competition, there are still potential opportunities, as well as options in other states.

Those are two different conversations.First, you can save even more now, but if you want to move out, house hacking would be your best option, not paying in cash.

Some lenders will work with any level of investor experience, credit scores as low as 660 and can close in as little as 10 days (there are loan options for 640-660 credit scores- they require 20% down).Another good thing is interest only and 6-24 month loan terms- you can refinance by selling or refinancing to a long term DSCR rental property loan at any time once you complete the rehab.

If you cannot find a source for this money another option is to bootstrap it.

One of our markets has a cap on the number of STR licenses with a huge waiting list and very few licenses changing hands over the last few years, so that doesn’t appear to be an option for us in the short run. 

I would not think flipping first either, it's a rabbit hole and with no money, your options would be hard money which is a hard ask right now for first timers.

Property 1 is purchase of 80k and 10k in repairs, property 2 is 40k with 30k in repairs.I'm thinking of different options on how to fund and I'm not sure what options I actually have and/or would be best.

One option is to sell a number of them to break even and keep the rest for cash flow. 

What are my options?

Your experience or lack thereof isn't relevant as long as you ideally have at least one year of current mortgage history that will open you up to more DSCR lending options.