The low income versus high cost of living is referred to locally as the sunshine tax. https://www.businessinsider.com/most-expensive-places-to-liv...https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sandiegocitycal...It is my view that the incomes cannot sustain the high cost of housing in San Diego but it has seemed this way to me for four decades and yet the RE prices keep increasing.  

I have great relationships with contractors and other trades to do rehabs, so nothing is off the table.

Sure, but then you’re probably leaving money on the table, and who wants that?

I feel like there's a lot of money I'm leaving on the table.

In each category, note how much you are bothered or stressed on a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 = not bothered at all and 5 = stressed out: Pain Points Stress1 to 5 Pain Points Stress1 to 5 Unit turnover Exterior maintenance Advertising for available units Deferred capital expenditures Tenant screening rules Plumbing or electrical emergencies Tenant selection / discrimination rules Mortgage payments Documenting move-in conditions Bookkeeping and bill paying Documenting ongoing conditions Taxes and insurance premiums Dealing with tenant complaints Risk of late payments or non-payments Dealing with neighbor complaints Risk of property damage or vandalism Mold, termites and rodents Premises liability Interior maintenance Evicting tenants If your completed table has mostly 1s and 2s, then congratulations—you are a happy landlord!

No sure if the HML who was selling him the paper / and I dont know in your deal if you table funded that and they bought the loan 3 days later..

The house is also furnished with a solid wood no spring couch, and a solid wood round dining table, and a king sized bedroom set in the master.

The key rules are as follows:1) Syndicator MUST have significant skin in the game, including 10% of the money raised in the first deal, 8% of the second, and 3% of the third2) The only fees allowed are 5% of revenue for property / asset management, which is enough to put food on the table, but not incentivize people to just buy, buy, buy3) The only compensation is 20% of the profit (less on the first 2 deals)4) Rapid acquisition is not allowed. 5% Is minus all operating cost correct ? 

Like you said in your post, "Buying and holding is a long term strategy...............focus on the end goal"The second reason for trying to get good deals is that if you can get a 10-20% built in equity off the bat, it has the advantage of:- taking a big part of the risk factor off the table- built in equity that can be utilized as required- better cash flowThere are a lot of people on BPs that say that "money is made on the front end in RE".

So as an example, if the hose sells for 90% of market value then it is doubtful you will get an added 20% on the table with your discount.