Renting could allow you to focus on paying down debt and saving for a larger down payment, while buying now could help you start building equity or even generate passive income through house hacking.

I have newer properties that spec builders just through up and have issues with. 

@Tiffani HollisFor a long-term rental, I’d avoid used dishwashers entirely—repair costs and reliability issues often outweigh the savings.

The issue is you cannot force insurance companies to do business in the state.

The only issue appears to be the missing breakers and it being turned off by the bank.

These are being issued by local "nonprofits" who are mass emailing landlords pretending to be section 8 tenants.

I’d love to hear about the crime rates or any other issues (which we cannot guess from the online stats), and how easy or hard it is to find reliable tenants and property management companies.

While renting the larger out.

Fortegra is non-admitted in California and that's likely causing the issue.

I keep reading about all the weird financing issues in this space so I wouldn't actually put money in until mid 2025 or later.