This will provide you experience, a story to tell, and the credibility needed for adding additional clients.I'm happy to discuss more.

The cons as i see it include loosing the 2 of 5 year cap gain exception, typically not an ideal rental because the emphasis at purchase was buying a good home for your family and not a rental with optimal return (my ex-home consistently has the lowest cash flow for equity in my RE portfolio), not disconnected enough from the property causes addition angst on damage and may result in over improvement.  

Here are a few ideas to explore that might help you get closer to homeownership in San Diego without selling:Cash-Out Refinance:Refinancing one or both of your El Centro properties could free up additional cash for a down payment without selling.

You could say it took a long time to get an additional 11 units given I closed 20 units in just 10 months of getting started with my investing.

It never hurts to have an additional set of eyes to look after your property.

So it sounds like me you built additional equity into the home your living in now.

Additionally, there’s always a risk that any pet-related damages could be hidden under furniture or otherwise concealed, potentially leaving us to cover the costs if the security deposit is fully depleted by other expenses (e.g., damages or unpaid rent).

Are there additional steps you take when screening applicants, or do you take fewer steps?

I use all of them:-Brokers-Platforms like LoopNet, Crexi (my favorite), and BiggerPockets Deal Finder-additionally, brokers often have access to off-market opportunitiesWhen dealing with brokers, I've found that you have to build a relationship in order to get a good deal flow.

If so that's a big additional risk for the buyer.