Wheatland Bank was good to me but the lender I worked with has since retired.

We had vacationed there for years and viewed it as a place for future retirement.

My brother in law told me a few years ago that I was the luckiest sob he had ever known but it took me 33 years of living below my means and working hard to buy enough rentals to retire with the same standard of living that we were used to.

My strategy is buy & hold for stable cash flow with some appreciation over time. 

US unemployment near all time lows and GDP stable so that means FED FUNDS rate is not constrictive so they may not need to cut rates for years, and US GVT spending quite a bit more than willing to tax, so long bong Issuance going up (2 trillion issuance projected this year) so more supply = rates go up =CAP rates go upCapital Calls seem very likely Even if rates drop, those occupancy levels are awful.

Start building close to home and you'll have such great appreciation by the time you're ready for the cash flow to be $20k a month you can exchange out of the low cash flow, high appreciation California market to wherever you decide to retire. 

Once you retire the title and place a mobile home on its own lot then our county taxes as real property and we pay property taxes like a stick built home vs a mobile home in a mobile home park which is taxed like a car - vehicle tag.4. 

However, I live close-by (30 minute drive), recently retired from my day-job, and if the loan is not too large, I might be willing to do a deal just to learn a bit more about another side of RE.  

It's a good way to marry rehabbing distressed real estate equity capture with long term note income for retirement accounts for those that are interested.

For perspective, last April I closed on a new construction loan (build to rent) with a turnkey company there (Rent to Retirement).