It looks like you're barely getting 1% in your examples above and in my opinion you'd be better off buying in a better quality area and getting a 1% there.

@Lee Haskins I completely understand nothing like people telling you face to face who needs to sell a home!!!  

@Maurice Colbert this is a multi faceted issue that you facing and there is no easy or right answer.What is your timeframe for wanting to build a new home?  

With my current setup I can barely hear audible talking with faint deep vocals from time to time from the man but it’s not loud enough to bother us.

I agree that to do something different (like quit your job during a financial meltdown) takes a lot of courage and may face opposition from loved ones.

Then a HELOC can be the down payment, etc.401k loans count as secured borrowed funds.Believe it or not, Fannie Mae actually gives "art" as an example of something you can borrow against right there in their guidelines, but I've not had the you-know-what to test that by having someone draw a smiley face on napkin and borrow $100k against it from a private party.

face to face conversation.You may have your information wrong, they may be lieing, best to come to it as "I have a problem I do not understand, can you help me resolve this?"

They should be perfectly safe providing a drunk tenant does not fall asleep with their face on it. 

When I face applicants with items in collection, I tell them they can pay those collections off, get them into repayment plans, or pay me a security deposit equal to what they owe their creditors.

It's very common for folks in California to have the exact problem you are facing right now.