A lot of people spend more than that on a car. 

I will need to spend some time to really decipher your pillars. 

@Ben Leybovich and I will spend dozens of hours underwriting a property before determining our price range. 

I'm new to this and while I can learn I do not have the time to spend on the short term, so I don't want  to put all my assets in that investment account with something I'm not familiar. 

While you need to be responsible and not spend money you don’t have, sometimes a nice dinner or a new piece of equipment you have been wanting is all you need to give yourself a boost.

In order to pull all of your money out during refi, you can't spend more than 75% of ARV: purchase, reno, holding costs, etc.

That said it’s totally possible to do what you want to do and invest out of state, just Ben very weary and do your due diligence before spending your first dollar.

Spend some time there.

For that area, the maximum FHA loan amount appears to be $1.4MM, but please correct me if I am wrong.Aside from the 3.5% down, I have also read there will be 1.5% PPI and closing fees, so should expect to spend 6%, but can refinance the PPI after a year or two. 

I would not spend a lot though on it and shop around to find a decent but low priced one.