Ask the dumpster company how much weight comes "for free" with the dumpster, and what the cost per ton is for going over that weight. 

Depending on your budget- the curb appeal would be greatly enhanced by painting the brick a lighter color- white or pale gray so that the entry doesn’t look so dark and unwelcoming.  

I will tell you that those nerves are normal and it means you are thinking carefully about the decision and understand its weight. 

... also, regarding you getting a loan with this proposed purchase: the credit of the IRA account owner would not be of weight here, the loan must be non-recourse, the IRA account owner can not personally guarantee this loan. 

My specific question for experienced landlords is: Do you ignore or put less weight in medical collections as opposed to other types of collections?

I fear there are going to be many a broken hearts and lighter wallets following that advice.I could write a glowing book on this stuff but its not reality for beginners at all in my mind. your statement above is solid gold. !!!

It might weight one location above another if it's already on your list of possibilities for other reasons, but it wouldn't be a determining factor in any way for me.Really, you can do real estate anywhere in some shape or form, so you can move where you want and figure out how to make real estate work there, or move where you want and figure out how to make real estate work for you "long distance".  

This is a pretty stressful time for us right now, and are curious if there is any help or loophole to this situation to take some of this weight off of our shoulders.Thank you so much for your time.

Tax implications would be a big factor, as would the predetermined buyout(or methodology for calculating future buyout amount), but the big factor would be their desire to max out profits weighted against their desired quality of life.But those deals are almost always a result of being observant at the right place and time.

But if you don't need the money now, San Diego is probably as good a bet as any to outpace the national home price appreciation rates over the long term.The other option is to cash out and put your $500k of equity to work somewhere else, maybe in turn key properties in the Midwest where appreciation is a more modest 2% (every city is different - I used Chicago to come up with 2%), but your return is weighted more to cashflow than appreciation (less risky).