I'll be owner occupying the finished garden unit and currently looking for tenants to occupy the nice and spacious 1st and 2nd floor units.

@Surya Kumar $15,000 for vinyl flooring in a $105K house is going to be some really nice flooring.  

The comps concern me as you are probably buying at or a bit above market value, but $400 / mo cashflow for a triplex is nice in this market and is hard to come by. 

This would be great but would likely mean not buying as nice of a house for ourselves and definitely leaving SF.

The only reason I am hung up on this property is because the interior is very nice, and the location is quite convenient (right across the street from the medical district which is the heart and soul of my community).

Perhaps a nice 1950's built bungalow.Always hire a 3rd party property inspector to give you an unbiased feel for the home.

Most newbies that have herd mentality are buying those now.If you are trying to get safer investments you might want to buy brand new builds in a subdivision in a nice area stage 0 to 1 of development.Example you look at 2 options:Option 1 - Buy a house for 75k (Class C) that after mortgage payment is supposed to generate 150 a month income or 1,800 a year.Down payment 15,000    Result: In a few years rent growth in lower income areas is more limited due to income earnings.

@Troy Williams Nice to see another expat from the US in Shanghai!

People aren't selling because their properties are going well and they're cash flowing nicely. 

From my severance, we have a nice cash windfall, and now have more liquidity than we've ever had.