Many investors use wholesalers or real estate agents who specialize in investment properties, or they directly target owners with distressed properties.5.

This is also apparently going to "be a thing" with airbnb portfolios as I am currently working with another owner ready for retirement.

Obviously the ideal way would be to split the lots and rent the lots to mobile home owners but that seems like a very small market.

I'd have the PM send notice to the tenants that it was brought to the owners attention and they've waived the fee and thank you for being good tenants.

Upside is that you are paying off debt a lot faster with more towards principal and less towards interest. 20% down is only for SF, even a duplex will require 25% down unless owner-occupied.

As others have said, this is the best way to get started because you can get much better financing when the property is owner occupied.

@joel, FHA will finance non owner occ??

Ask to speak with some of their current owners and current/former tenants.

@Sam HendricksenMultifamily is super competitive in this area and you have a huge advantage over your "competition" with the fact that you are owner occupying as most deals nowadays hardly cash flow. 

To be honest, I´m in the Maintenance & Construction for corporate businesses for some US companies in Mexico and we do some Real Estate down here also, but it´s way much different than the US, so I have much to learn from a lot of people around here and as @Julio Gonzalez, I think this is pretty much the right pad and place to start and to break my fears to start all over again from scratchAlso, I´ld like to hear more from @Justin Brickman why he voted for his city, pros and cons, it will help to read from a local...As I said before, thank you all guys for taking the time to write in this post and share some experienceDo you plan to owner occupy. $40k will not get you a non owner occupied San Diego property unless you find some unlikely alternate financing.