There is some built in value for this decreased property tax you are paying.

They distributed $200k to local programs in Santa Cruz (and much more around the state) to work on reducing wildfire risk by decreasing fuel (brush, small timber, etc).

HUD guidelines is 2 people per bedroom plus 1.So1 Bedroom - 3 people2 Bedroom - 5 People3 Bedroom - 7 People4 Bedroom - 9 People.EtcThere is also a sq footage component as 50 sq feet per person in a bedroom can increase or decrease the number of people presumed to be able to live in a bedroom.Do not discriminate, it is illegal.

Chinese investment in the Bay Area is decreasing due to increased restrictions by the chinese government (source). 

In this market, more often than not when working with buyer's i mention the approach of writing in a 10k (for example) seller concession for closing costs or rate buy down in comparison to a 10k decrease in the purchase price. 

I am erroring on the side of caution and expecting both rents and prices to decrease in our local market which will lead to the opportunities.

If all your income comes from the US and all your assets are in the US, you'll actually decrease your overall risk by investing overseas.

If I am left with a $300 payment after the tenants rent, am I technically making $1200 cash flow since I drastically decreased my cost of living each month? 

Inflation is like 3% yearly, if I do not increase rent 3% yearly then this means i am losing 3% of my income year over year basically decreasing my income by 9% over the course of 3 years not to mention fixing costs.

Borrowing from family increases the risk, not decreases it.Doing the bare minimum is a bad idea.