Having 5 (maybe up to eight) free and clear houses in good locations and good tenants, and continue working my full-time job with no pressure to do overtime or with the possibility to retire early, and travel more or spend quality time with my future family would be an ideal goal for me.What would you guys do?

If you decide to purchase out of state, really spend some time researching what you are getting yourself into...specifically, look into what kinds of exit strategies are available.

I'm licensed as an appraiser and spend the bulk of my time analyzing just about everything as it relates to real estate.

I have a Broker's license and I've done several wholesale deals (however I don't consider myself a "wholesaler").If the only reason you want a license is to have access to the MLS you will be going through a lot of work and effort, and spending a lot more money than you really need to. 

You will be spending $70k to save $350 a month.OR$70k as a down payment on another property that will bring you $450+ in cashflow, would be a better use of the cash on hand in my opinion.Hope this perspective helps!

Why should I spend so much time for nothing?? 

 Given those numbers, assuming they spend an extra $50K on rehab to hit $250K ARV, that's about $15K of extra profit in their pocket for a lot of work and risk. 

This WILL take LOTS of time, you WILL spend money on gas, signs, zip ties, mailers, BP membership to advertised deals, business cards, your appearance to keep yourself up. 

This will be a lot more meaningful than just us $25-$35 per sq ft for a light to medium rehab.Also, spend sometime to develop an example scope of work (bathroom remodel) and price out all the materials to do the job.

I felt that my quantitative background can give me a great advantage because I probably spend more time on excel analysing and building models than most agents out there.