Having watched many prior co-workers get paid, cash their check at the casino, and promptly deposit it all into a slot machine I can tell you with pretty good certainty that casinos don't have a positive effect on disposable income and good use of the existing income in the area surrounding :)Are there solid local employers OTHER than the casino in a 15-minute drive? 

As noted earlier, most evictions are rinse and repeat, and even if you need to find local attorneys to sign off on paperwork, it's likely less expensive if the paperwork is prepped ahead of time.Just a thought.

Reading your story like this as a whole was incredibly inspiring.

Personally, I’ve been looking for ways to align creativity with the numbers, whether that’s finding undervalued properties, building relationships with local agents, or pivoting to new strategies.

In my opinion, the best "first step" is to find a local REIA to attend. 

Going to local RE meetups can be a great way to make these connections!

I had a local bank provide a 1031 without fees. 

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 think the borrower is better off trying a local bank or broker in that area.

If you want to chat sometime I am local.