You don't pay commission fees, capital gains or other ******** taxes on good debt and that is nice especially if someone else could be paying it down for you. 

Here is a nice article from Biggerpockets for MTR 101 https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/how-to-invest-in-medium-t...

I just like to list places and keep them posted so I get a chance to talk to nice new people, like you.

Corona impacts will greatly impact this surplus but it is nice that the state had a $9B surplus.CA, over the last 10 years, had the 2nd largest net population increase of all 50 states (last I looked - I believe it to still be true). 

I'm under contract for a nice double and was hoping to use part of the money for my portion of the down payment.

You want this to be your backup plan if things take longer than anticipated, you do not want to dip into personal credit cards so i would use a heloc to help with down payment but try to keep a nice available balance on a heloc as your insurance policy. 

FHA is unlikely to play nice in this situation.Bank statement loans might be an option for you.

I put a lot of money into my property to make them nice. 

The popcorn machine is nice, but not something that will be a deciding factor in bookings. 

A nice portfolio is 10-40 properties, and yes you should drive by your own assets to check for broken windows.