My credit score is excellent and income is not massive but I do so so (less than 40K). 

I used 2 tubes of caulking to cover over the massive rot lurking under the peeling flooring to pass the appraisal. 

I'm personally not a massive fan of 529 plans except in specific cases.

No one ever amassed a fortune by not spending without first having acquired a massive income.The entrepreneurial mind, on the other hand, says, "Where can I invest for the best return?"

There are also massive double tax issues.

The place needs massive renovations but I'm not sure if she will leave after closing.The agent/seller has asked me to pay an extra 18k to remove her.

To get there I am working on increasing my income and reducing my daily living expenses.I had a massive personal budget overhaul about a year ago and reduced my expenses as much as I could, all expenses are planned and budgeted and I know exactly how much cashflow I have each month if there are no unexpected expenses.Part of that is I am focusing on flipping/wholesaling property to build more capital and then use it to buy more rentals as well and focusing on increasing my J.O.B. income until I can do REI full time.I think either route can work, buying only rentals may be a little slower at first but if the equity and cash flow are managed well it can increase more and more.

The vacancy rate in San Diego is somewhere around 3%, the city is growing like crazy, there are already massive developments planned on the east end of east village which will just continue to expand east.

gotcha... although if you just hand in the keys your walking from your downpayment and whatever cash you have in it.your sense are correct all these folks singing on massive debt with 5 year calls are taking a certain amount of risk.. just need to look back to 08 09 when no one could refi and all these properties changed hands.. it was not because of poor operators basically it was frozen credit and banks not relenting or walls st.. hedgefund bought said notes from failed banks and refused to rewrite and took the assets.. since they paid pennies on the dollar for the paper.. foreclosing and reselling was still a better play for them.. 

Even if a conventional Fannie/freddie lender will not finance it, there are always portfolio lenders (who make their own decisions on a case-by-case basis), commercial loans (yes, they can be made on less than five units) and last but CERTAINLY not least, private individuals (a massively underutilized financing source, IMHO)I think your bigger issue might be insurance, rather than financing.