Will beat the dead horse here: definitely house hack.

I really need to get out of the 9 to 5 rat race; this job is killing me (not exactly an exaggeration; my gig is too high-stress and not much fun). 

They're selling a dream using buzz words like "escape the rat race", "be your own boss", "financial freedom", and "spend more time with your family".

She had a horse boarding/training business that apparently failed.

Every extortion attempt I have experienced in Baja has happened North of Ensenada.Beyond Ensenada are cool things like wineries (I do not drink wine), La Bufadora and its blow hole, great little fishing villages, Gurerro Negro and Scammons Lagoon (best whale watching on earth), San Pedro Martir (least visited forest region within a day of San Diego and has the twin Picacho del Diablo peaks and the national observatory), numerous Missions in various degrees of condition, hot springs, party towns (San Felipe), surf towns, snorkel/diving (anywhere in Sea of Cortex in Baja Sur), Sand Dunes (Baja races), etc.My worse theft south of Ensenada has been some bottled water.So the question is why Rosarito? 

All my homes are rented, and I'm off to the races in building my passive income portfolio!

You hear their life stories and learn so much more about life than another dollar.I get the hunger to escape the rate race wanting more.

It is putting the cart WAY before the horse in my opinion. 

Would I be too late to the race? 

It's really stupid but but most banks consider the following to be rural: over 5 acres, if it has an unimproved road to get to the house, if it has a barn or horse stables, if population of town is under 20,000 (population density varies by lender).