I DO NOT care whether he drives a Toyota himself.

Without the high leverage you reduce the top source of return in CA RE which is achieve via the appreciation on a high leverage property.  

The previous owner took exceedingly good care of the building and there was nothing that need to be done except to raise the rents.

He told me they don't care if the houses make money, only that they more or less hold their principal because what we think of here in the US as volatility is laughable to most of the rest of the world. 

And possibly even more money back if you did some of the work yourselves.So now you have a new home that you're living in that has probably 25% equity in it, you have a cash flowing seller financed property with no maintenance because you've sold it on seller financing and they're going to be taken care of the property because it is their property but yet you still benefit from cash flow because you are the bank.

Be careful asking such questions.

I like that lawn and snow removal is taken care of in an association, but dislike that expense each month. 

My advice is to tread carefully.

For the person with little to no wealth, just getting started, putting their eggs in one basket and watching it carefully makes more sense, likely up to the first $500K - $1M. 

Quote from @Peter Walther: Quote from @Bob Floss II: I don't know the laws in your area, but tread carefully assuming a judge will award specific performance when money damages are available.