That is why I am considering different routes, and see if I can extract more value from this cash now. 

If so, sometimes condos can be challenging as investor owners often don't want to do upgrades and updates, many just want to run the property into the ground and extract as much cash as they can get today, without thought to the future.   

One of the snags I see with your plan is taking forever to get enough equity to extract for a down payment on a home in California.

If you make this your full time job, I hope you could extract a 15-30% profit margin off that revenue.

It's a great way to extract capital from your primary home equity and use it to acquire cash flowing properties.   

I'd rather live in an area where everyone can agree that if given an alternative, that kind of result does not benefit ANYONE (except perhaps the landlord who extracted value from the community for years and years). 

You can also extract it from public records.

The creditworthiness of the borrower would be a factor as would the ability to extract money from the borrower if they default. 

I think you are pulling money out of the deal somehow, but what money are you extracting from the property?

It's important to always remember this when trying to extract value out of a realtor, if they can provide any