It's sad to see so many of these threads after looking through BP today, but it was totally expected based on the insanely low rates a couple of years ago and realizing how commercial lending works.It's a bummer, but there's no such thing as passive investing and there's no alternative to digging into a situation and understanding it for yourself.

Alternatively i could go for being a real estate broker and try to get experience in actual real estate without putting too much of my own skin in the game.

Alternatively, you go to Market B where you can achieve BRRRR'S and buy and renovate $100K houses, each appraising for $140K and you repeat this 4 times over the course of a 2 year period.

There could also be a change to the HOA by-laws eliminating the right to lease and alternatively if too many units are tenant occupied it could impact the warrantability of the financing which would be problematic if you wanted to sell the unit.

I think a conversation with the loan officer's manager to see if a compromise/alternative can be worked out may be beneficial. 

California's housing prices are too high for our budget, and I'm at a loss.I'm seeking your advice on alternative ways to use these funds for good.

Alternatively the debtor can payoff the note either in full or at a negotiated discount.  

I would look for a custodian who does not charge a fee based on your assets.I normally see the costs being A one time set-up fee along with an annual reoccuring fee.The thing you want when opening up an SDIRA is that the return that you will make with alternative investments will be greater than the fee that is charged to you for the SDIRA plus the return you would have likely gotten with a regular IRA.

Alternatively, you could explore house hacking with a multifamily duplex, where you live in one unit and rent out the others.

I plan to check them out although I don't think they can be competitive for lending against equity vs alternatives like IBKR.I will keep this thread posted as we navigate this in case others are interested.