So, dig into the many articles about how we evaluate properties so you'll be better able to navigate the conversation with an investor about what they're looking for in an investment property.I went the other way myself -- investor who became a Realtor -- so I'm biased towards thinking that having some experience on the investing side puts you in a much stronger position to understand what investors are after.

When you start letting fear control your decisions, that's when you start missing out on things in life (good and bad) which in one facet or another only make you a stronger person in the end IMHO.

First, when it comes to the Bay Area, I think the correlation between the tech industry and housing prices is much stronger than the correlation with any race or nationality. 

Whenever you pull your equity out of a place it means that the market is stronger than when you bought it so if you remain in the same place your purchase power will be diminished. 

I've dealt with all kinds of fun stuff with the property, but none of it has deterred me -- it's only made my fire burn stronger for this dream.I recently was chatting with a new realtor friend of mine (mutual interest was soccer) and he was very helpful in opening my eyes to what I might be able to do.

It's probably going to be slightly stronger on the detailed accounting (cpa level stuff) than Rentec, but Rentec is going to be much stronger on the tenant and landlord specific stuff.

However the market is stronger now and I am seeing deals similar to what you are describing. 

At that point, your credit score will be stronger, if you take care of it, and can seek conventional financing to pay the balance.The benefit to the seller is he gets his property sold, sells it for more in the long run since he's collecting interest on the payments, without having to wait for someone to get qualified for commercial lending.

@Gene Hacker I think that below the $200K price limit we are seeing a market on fire, and because we are seeing prices increasing and generally stronger indicators that the market is increasing, we are starting to see the volume of sales start breaking above that $200K limit.  

Or file in small claims court to get a judgement and make the collection agency's case stronger.