To briefly comment on Adam's reply above; Oceanside and Carlsbad are good suburban areas that have their eclectic beach community charms (along with del mar for that matter), but they come at the cost of truly being farther away from what makes San Diego Shine.

when did you loosen up and reward yourself somehow?

And the reward on the other end is financial freedom and flexibility that allows you to support your family and your dreams without running on that RVU treadmill and feeling like taking a vacation means losing money.

More risk adverse investors seem to be making these deals work...and ultimately are getting rewarded with appreciation while more sound/by the book investors are sitting on the sidelines.  

Option contracts are low risk and offer a high reward.

But if I was like you and had knowledge and experience building new, I'd definitely consider doing that in Hawaii if the risk to reward was favorable. 

This means I get credit card rewards for all my HELOC purchases.

The phrase “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” applies directly to this concept, as spreading your investment across a broad spectrum is how investors balance risk and reward in their investment portfolio.

Have purchased a large number of homes like this over years and it is simply a risk reward game. 

My husband is very charming, affable and great with meeting strangers.