I agree with Alecia about only screening people over 18. 

What would you do if you could do it all over again?

One important detail is that my brother currently lives with us, and we are open to having him stay with us if we do make a purchase as a renter to help cover our mortgage.I see our main options as the following:1) Buying an SFDU to live in, and "house hack" with my brother continuing to live with us and pay rent2) House hacking with MFDU.

Also if any NJ agents that are familiar with using these and transitioning out of them can reach out for some advice and education that would be great seeing that I will need an investor Friendly agent over here to help guide me through everything.

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.

Conversion rates also change over time.The answers to some of those questions would help point you in a good direction.

Based on what you've told us, your rate should be at prime (7.5%), unless you are over 80% LTV, then it would be prime +1.Jeff

It actually doesn't have to be overly complicated.

This platform has played such a key role in my journey over the years.

However I also probably would have tried to troubleshoot over the phone before sending the plumber which may or may not have removed the need to send someone.