I envision this portfolio supporting me during my retirement years—though I still plan to work, just in a different capacity than I do today.I recently finished reading "How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide" by Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turner, which has been incredibly helpful.

If you plan to resell, I think it's wise to discuss with seller in advance and that way the lien on the property can be transferred to second buyer, but you can continue to make payments at the former schedule etc.

The tenant refused to communicate about his plans to vacate and finally left the key under the mat on June 2 but made no communication, so we had to make 4 trips looking for the key.

Off-market property is the best option for fix and flip, but since you are planning to live and flip, some on-market properties would also work.

A good real estate accountant can save you thousands of dollars by leveraging entity selection and formation, tax deductions, cost segregations, bonus depreciation and tax planning.I recommend finding an accountant who specializes in real estate taxation, business taxation, financial planning and tax planning.You may want to consider working with your accountant remotely to expand your options.I would also recommend looking for a accountant willing to work with you throughout the year.

The numbers have to work for your business plan or you will end up with a money pit.

At some point you have to make the actionable plan.  

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.

I would like to work out a payment plan whereby they pay me while I have control of the rights to the mortgage then in 10 years I pay off the principal.

If I were you keeping the property as 4 units and renting out bonus unit under the radar may be your best option especially if you plan to refi or do HELOC while occupying.