It comes down to risk tolerance, your short term financial goals, and your long term financial goals.Maybe I have an old school mentality but my top priority is still always 'location, location, location'Meaning I don't want to own any real estate in a bad or "cheap" location.

Looking back I'll admit that was excessive and I definitely reached analysis paralysis, but it got me VERY mentally prepared and to date, I have never lost money on a deal (knock-on-wood).2. 

It shouldn't take long to get a feel for the health of the city.

There's lots of upward mobility, but I don't want to have to rely on a corporate job to support my family, due to some health issues I'll get into below.I currently own two (single family) rental properties that net me combined ~$950 dollars positive cashflow a month.

Your first step should be to talk with the Placer County Environmental Health Dept regarding the availability of a large septic system on your lot.  

I’m getting mentally exhausted and when I listen to the podcast I often find myself resentful of how others are finding deals in this market.

The question running on my mental hamster wheel is: Replace the infrastruct (plumbing &electrical) before renting the property for lower cap ex and future repairs for rental I plan to hold long term? 

Very well said I think the only thing that I would add to this conversation is that people need to spend more time understanding the mental side of being successful. having a certain amount in your bank account does not deem you to be successful and if you don't start working on it from the very beginning you'll never know when you reach it and it's not like you popped through a glass ceiling and you're on the other side and now you think that you're going to flip a switch and enjoy your life part of doing this is learning and enjoying the journey that you're on not just trying to get to the destination thinking you'll be happy at that point.You have to become a successful person mentally before you ever will financially or physically

But so are the mental defectives who buy lottery tickets and pull the handles of slot machines.

They have long term renting history about 4 yrs in the last place but I'm sure they had a game plan coming in to not disclose any negatives points so they lied but I can see how rental game can create that mentality to them.