@Alex Lickenbrock If your young family needs schools and you don't want to pay for private, you may want to consider the suburbs (and there is a range of school/suburb quality as well). 

Zillow will also offer climate history of a property alongside custom tailored insurance policies and carriers. 

This is a personal preference thing, based on an extensive amount of people I've encountered in my life, to 99% of the people out there, pay off the mortgage is the way to go if they can. 99% of the people in the world would be beyond content with financial freedom: meaning, in general purchase whatever you want (minus mega mansion and private jets), go wherever you want to go, send your kids to whatever school they want to go, and last a life time.

They were pleased what house they could get for their money, good schools and more space.

My other option is to wait until my partner is done with school and we buy that bigger property we can invest more into if we don’t buy something now Thank you!!!

We are also scared to evict the tenant because of our dad’s $10,000 eviction history with previous “Tenant A”. 

I want to begin my real estate journey as soon as I get out of school.

In saying that, I did school myself but not all I learned may be fact.

Assembly Bill 1771, also known as the California Housing Speculation Act, aims to change real estate tax policy to discourage investors from quickly reselling properties like single-family homes.Under the proposed bill, an additional 25% tax would be imposed on the gain from the sale of a qualified asset (including homes) within three years of the previous sale.The tax reduction is dependent on the number of years passed since the initial purchase of the qualified asset, ranging from a 20% reduction for sales occurring between 3.01 to 4 years to a 100% reduction for sales occurring more than seven years after the initial purchase.The revenues generated by this tax increase would be deposited into the Speculation Recapture Community Reinvestment Fund, which aims to support affordable housing, local governments, schools, and infrastructure projects.The bill is introduced by Assembly Member Ward, and the proposed tax changes would take effect from January 1, 2023.Assembly Member Ward argues that short-term investors in the market, including fix and flip investors, contribute to rising housing prices, limiting opportunities for Californians to purchase homes.While the bill may discourage short-term speculative transactions, it is worth noting that California's tax laws still provide certain advantages for investors, including unlimited tax write-offs and depreciation benefits.The bill is subject to legislative approval, and Assembly Member Ward will speak publicly about the bill at the San Diego County Administration Center on a specified date.Please note that this is a simplified summary of the bill and its potential impact on fix and flip investors.

It can also be used to track various sources of rental income to help you manage your cash flow.How to get it: Goodbudget is available from the App Store for iOS devices and Google Play for Android devices.Cost: Goodbudget offers a free plan with 10 regular envelopes, 10 “more” envelopes, one year of history, and debt tracking.