Once you have property available and with significant down payment, the opportunities open up and financiers/banks would be willing. 

If you are looking for highest returns then owning outright is the most conservative and lowest possible return available due to the opportunity value of your equity.

As I'm sure you're aware competition in the Bay Area is pretty steep competition but real opportunities do pop up from time to time.

I also have other opportunities with fellow real estate investors that I'm looking into.

I am looking to keep the ball rolling with my real estate investing, and am currently looking for financing to make an acquisition when an opportunity becomes available.

Pound it as much as you can, grab all opportunities.

@Jason Chen, I'm jealous of your opportunities in Florida. 

The air conditioning I had checked out by an HVAC company that fixed the obvious problems, as it was a cheap system that wasn't installed properly.One and a half handy people is not as fast as the professionals, so I missed the main window of opportunity for the target renter, students.

I received my first share this past fiscal year, and although I'm not 100% vested (still got three more years) -- I have been doing some research and was curious if a PST program is transitional to a self-directed IRA, or is there any way I could leverage this to invest in real estate?

See BP Podcast 229 for more information.If I were in your shoes, and depending upon how good the friendship was, I would ask her for a portion of the profits she's made thus far, since you gave her a "friend's rate" on the rental and she's technically violating the lease, it's only fair.However, since you think she's not going to be honest about what profit she's made, I would assume you really aren't very good friends, just very old acquaintances.Regardless, I would terminate her lease at your earliest opportunity and begin short term renting it yourself.