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.

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.

But assuming thsi is something you plan to pay back in 2-3 months the interest rate shouldn’t matter.

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. 

Can stay in the same budget and use the excess to invest or trade up.

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.

I'm not too hung up on this, because the margins still appear very attractive (from what the agent speculated ARV). my hesitancy stems from a lack of experience and direct steps/plan of action to take on a property I like. 

Reach out to my survey and engineering company that is doing our plans for our land.

I plan to own a real estate business and start flipping homes.

To succeed with the BRRRR strategy, focus on buying properties at a discount, work with trusted contractors, and plan for refinancing timelines.