I don’t want to sound harsh but you chose to stay in a place you could not afford and racked up a bill you are responsible for.  

I beleive you will have to afford and qualify on your existing income until you have 12 to 24 months of ownership to prove rental history of your own.

That would leave us with around $70k liquid cash.We rent an apartment month-to-month until we find a good duplex to purchase (ideally within 1 year).We house-hack the duplex until we accumulate enough cash to buy a SFH for ourselves (3-5 years).We retain ownership of the duplex and rent out both units.In my mind, this approach could "get the ball rolling", considering we can't afford to buy an investment property with our current circumstances, nor would we be able to for many years.What would you do if you were in the same boat?

I currently live in the Bronx and there aren't any affordable $400K multifamilies in my area.

I'd like to live within 30-mins driving or Uber to a major hub airport with affordable, direct international flights (EWR, JFK, MIA, FLL, ORD etc. are examples).

One factor that is important as well is your current salary, since that will be a strong evaluation when the lender does your preapproval, they need to know how much you can afford and if your able to pay the mortgage most importantly.If you plan on buying out of state, you will be getting some cash flow, less appreciation than California.

All this for a low price.We just need them to be little courteous and patient and not be so bossy.Can't afford a property manager.

You have to figure out what you can afford and balance that with the time you have.

Option 2 seems like a more conservative approach but may take BRRRRing off the table so you will need to save longer to afford the down payment on the next property.If you haven't done it already I would run all of the contingencies through the BiggerPockets Calculators to see what will give you the best bang for your buck.I wouldn't get hung up on the fact you've never BRRRR'd, nobody has done it until they do it and plenty of people out there have proven that it is possible.

A big issue when prop 13 was up for voting was also that property taxes were going up so much so fast that the elderly were being taxed at a rate that they could no longer afford to live in the home they had lived in for decades.