I think this ESA insanity eventually implode on itself.

So I've decided that due to poor caulking and grout condition of the upstair bathroom, I will cover the water damage, although the tenant did eventually cause more water damage.

Along the way I would love to get investors instead of lenders and eventually scale massively. 

I have a commitment to invest in rental properties, meet professionals  & eventually meet potential business partners!

And assets that provide you with great depreciation but not great income or stability are just a form of robbing from Peter to pay Paul.   

The problem I'm facing is, most of the jobs out there are looking for someone with a real estate license, Yardi and/or property management experience, which I'm lacking at this time.Ultimately, my wife and I are both looking to transition over into real estate full-time, with my wife becoming a real estate agent and I would work on the property management end, and eventually possibly going into business on our own.

Eventually I just quit the program.

This leads to state funded insurance which will be very costly because only those at highest risk will participate in it and if the losses continue, they eventually will need to get the money from someone (rest of people in california?) 

So shift your expectations to most of the cash out and you'll be good and you'll actually start buying deals, versus people who wait for the perfect deal, spin their wheels for 6 months terminating contracts/analyzing hundreds of places, and then eventually burn out and give up. 

I have my own designs and after uploading them and sending them out for a few rounds of marketing I eventually received some un-deliverables and they were barely legible along with their being major defects during printing.