I can continually save up enough for another down payment through my W-2 income, but the time elapsed kind of drives me nuts. 

If you want to put it at 25%, I won't say you're nuts. 45%, though, is nuts.Not in general but for $800/month units, I believe it should be at least 45%.  

My neighbors thought I was nuts for giving that much.

This is nuts.

@Judd Nutting thanks so much for the post! 

So in theory it can't be a LTR if we move out someday, but a lease naming a tenant as "manager" probably gets around that.I've thought a bunch about how to improve the property's cash flow, and there's lots of marketing and operational low-hanging fruit before we get to capital improvements. 

The market is nuts. 

Don't like the rent in Malibu, there are much cheaper units in Frozen Nuts, Nebraska.

The rent growth and appreciation since 2017 has been nuts.

That's NUTS!