I want to get into flipping houses and eventually build a long term rental portfolio that will earn me enough to live on.

If you do a 1031 California will chase you for the rest of your life to collect their state income tax when you eventually sell.

If I was out there I would totally be doing this.I think if you did it right by getting easements on the property owners land and perhaps other ways to long term secure the deals, eventually you might be able to sell the cashflow streams off at a cap rate.

However everything I'm looking at is doing best and highest so anything over the numbers I'm sticking too I lose out on but I'll get a place eventually lol

I looked for about 6 months and couldn't find anything that met my numbers so eventually bought a single family down in Ocean County where it made more sense for me.Keansburg was mentioned, but from my experience that is a risky area. 

Equity will be split 50-50 either when we cash out refinance or sell eventually.

I plan on saving during this time to buy a two or three flat and eventually get another house for myself.

This can be a good option if the buyer is not yet ready to commit to a mortgage but is interested in eventually owning the property.Seller financing: In a seller financing arrangement, the seller of the property provides the financing for the purchase, rather than a traditional lender.

Will eventually invest in ca again for the appreciation if/when things stabilize.

If you plan to eventually do buy and hold, why not start now?