Birmingham, AL is my target city for a boat load of reasons, but I live up in Philadelphia, PA.

If you wanted to get her assets/credit up you could add her to the title/loan post closing.

I recommend you focus on a job that increases income, allowing you to save up and invest.

An opportunity has come up to purchase a 16 unit apartment.

I think you should focus on saving up and buying your own investments.

Rates were still low, we ended up getting 3.0% on our loan.

This means that mortgage payments eat up 60% of rent even before considering vacancy.

Let me know if you ever find anything up in NorCal.

The county tells me I could add up to 3 ADU's, one in the basement (at the same time as replacing the foundation) and two detached ADU's.Adding any number of ADU's has the potential to double my current cash flow.  

A man much smarter than I once said, "You will never make up for one month's lost rent, if it's not renting at your current price, drop the price a $100 per week until you find someone".