Anything B+ class or higher rarely cash-flowed and fixers were better for flips. 

I have some money saved up, but I am not sure if I should use my cash to buy a house and be in a lower class neighborhood, or if I should look to finance a house and be in a higher priced market?

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 personally think Northeast, East and Southeast Austin have some big growth ahead over the next decade as they have only a few new construction neighborhoods today, but not much in terms of A or B class commercial yet (HEB, Home Depot, Walmart, restaurants, etc).

Yes, there will be a category difference between properties there... the $100,000 properties being closer to C class properties, but I predict you will find that you will make twice the money going with the cheaper properties, if not more. 

Should I be looking at a different asset class or area?

The gurus that are selling classes, I’ve only found a few that I thought were worth the money paid.

This is a simple working class neighborhood.

I also got my real estate license at age 23 and learned massive amounts of priceless information about the industry through experience and by sitting through every Keller Williams training class possible.

And I have school in Montclair over here 2 days a week (3hr class, for 2 classes).