I originally thought this would be a low cost route to documenting the issues and alerting others.

Also, any tips y'all would give to people who are just starting out, also I am open to other nearby areas where barrier to entry is still relatively low.

Investors who invest for capital appreciation find it more profitable to invest in these markets due to the low cap rates.There also may be a higher barrier to enter for investors who are not well capitalized.Gino

For me doing this gives me the flexibility that if something comes up I could use this savings in two ways for emergencies and for my savings goal.I have in the past taken more risk and put the money in low cost index funds within my taxable brokerage account like VOO but there is risk here. 

The problem with multi family is that the inventory is VERY low and not a ton of great locations.

That is the norm for the overwhelming number of investors, and the low-risk approach.

There are, more or less, three things you can do (other than just sucking it up and going with the low appraisal):1) Try to convince the appraiser to increase the appraisal.

You are in Los Angeles, whoever told you to lay low is giving you bad advice.

I recently started looking at LoopNet which seems like a great resource for Low to medium MFH and apartment buildings, have you used it before?

Besides the low rent she pays she is very demanding, pays late and is not taking good care of the property.