Next, I'd prioritizing tiling, installing cabinets and floating flooring, leveling floors as things to learn / tackle. 

So if you read this far, my question to you would be, do you want to prioritize cash flow, appreciation, having a place in the bay, or do you not mind and want to go out of state?

Or should I be aiming/prioritizing experience over cost in this extra difficult legal and insurance quagmire?

Prioritize them and get started because you will need a new tenant soon.

We are working on prioritizing the list and getting the timelines for repairs.

As you will read in my comment it has opened my eyes and mind to a few clarification with finding mentors and prioritizing my goals.

I would prioritize getting the unit rent-ready and re-rented first.  

My suggestion would be not to prioritize cost but to prioritize a good relationship with a mortgage broker that can help you navigate the commercial lending world.  

Total cost $0, however it is much more labor/time intensive.If you are a cash buyer you can also network with local wholesalers but I would caution you to vet them and make sure they are actually the ones getting things under contract, rather than just passing on another wholesaler's deal and marking it up ("co-wholesaling"), which I'm seeing a lot of these days unfortunately.I think you need to sit down and look at your available financial and time resources and decide whether you want to prioritize spending more money on larger mailings, or less money and more time on more labor intensive (but less competition) niche markets.

Recently I looked at the average SFR rent increase in San Diego over the 3 years prior.  it