I plan to invest  around $10 in each, so basically I will be spending less than $35k for each duplex.

So, in a hot market the seller will look first for a cash buyer with no financing contingency, second for a buyer with approved financing from a conventional lender, third from a buyer who has been qualified by a mortgage broker, and last, i at all from a buyer with a POF from a hard money lender.Of course not all sellers, or the brokers representing them are sophisticated, so if you make enough offers you WILL get some sellers that accept you POF letter.Just to show you how meaningless these POF letters from hard money lenders really are, about 8 years ago a number of lenders published a generic POF on their websites, and told potential borrowers to download the letters, fill in the blanks, and they had an instant proof of funds.  

(Basically, where do investors like myself that live in expensive CA, focus on to start growing our portfolio by investing out of state?

Those nightly rates are about 75% of normal STR rates as well, so I am basically making money with no managing/marketing going on.

A 7 day liquor licence will be included but he wants to sell it separately to the buyer.

Since you wanted tips, this might help:1) Attend your local REIAs and network, you need to build a buyer list of investors that will buy your properties and network with other people in our industry.

Yes it is likely too good to be true and unlicensed in this case is basically paying a random person $5 for his or her opinion that is no better than yours, it will not hold any weight with anyone.  

It shows people you are serious about the investing, that you have a basic understanding of RE and some fundamentals that go along with it, and that you are legally able to be paid for your services. 

Get in there talk to people and just network and find some future cash buyers hopefully !

The day before closing, the buyers backed out.