I was planning to go by today with a friend to see if we can make contact.

Rhody investors are there any meet ups planned in Rhode Island?

With current prices and interest rates, I would not attempt to jump into the STR game in a busy market unless that sub-market is showing abnormal YoY growth OR you have a solid plan to perform in the top 10% of current listings in that market, assuming the revenue pencils out.

Also in Cali, I plan to do the long distance thing.

Market rent for each is 1950-2100 (the 1600 tenant was there when I bought it and super low rent but great tenants so i made a plan with them to raise it to market over the next three years as the jump would be way to much all at once). mortgage currently with insurance and taxes escrowed is 2100.I have a really low rate which makes this decision hard but the equity would help me fund the next 2-3 deals and enable me to start scaling faster

--> Its about a 45 Min drive to reach the Colorado Springs Metro's Most southern city 'fountain', this is where I own my current House Hack/Personal home Rental Income:Local Metro: Rental demand tends to be high in metropolitan areas, attracting a diverse tenant pool.Nearby Rural: I Have great comps as the neighborhood is just being built (6 other new builds with same floor-plan sold in that neighborhood in the last 2-3 years), there is a k-5 school on the same street in the neighborhood of the Rural build. 

Dont suppose I'll get it...again, i've never done a real estate deal other than purchasing my house over a decade ago. without experience there's just so much i dont know.networking is a sore spot, i'm just not a people person. thats one reason i look at real estate. since i plan to have any properties managed, i wont have to deal with a lot of people. i imagine you'll scold me for this but whatever. i'm never going to be a people person and thats set in stone. it's something i have to work around not overcome.It seems I always get to the same point with real estate where I take the safe and easy route and leave my $ invested in the stock market. the thing that appeals to me about re, and i'm more focusing on rentals, non b&b, is steady income with an appreciating underlying asset. whereas the market is up and down. i can get totally safe 5% from short term bonds, but i know my principle is withering away from inflation (i dont believe the gubt bogus 3% cpi). with a rental house i could get 5% rental income, and the house will appreciate ~5% a year. that's a huge difference. the other thing i'm somewhat interested in is flips, but same story there, i just dont have the knowledge, and all the reading this forum or watching yt's in the world only gets to the surface as it's all airy generalities.

I am a residential remodeling contractor by trade with a solid understanding of the rehab process and a network of laborers and subcontractors that I can rely on, and thus plan on managing this first rehab myself. 

 When I interviewed my current 100% commission broker I laid out my plans as an investor to which he was good with.

Your replacement property needs to be held for investment or associated with your trade or business.