I'm a believer that if you are dilligent in the study of your craft, that you may not be able to foresee the future, but you can be well-prepared to not only weather the storms, but to take advantage of them.

Our jobs as business owners (if you are not just a hobbyist real estate dabbler following the crowd) is to find our unique nitch that is resistent to competition (during the 12-18 mo run of its cycle).There ARE areas that are still going up and have inventory.

Weatherization and power are only good for 30 years- same as an asphalt shingle.  

A multi-family would be great idea, al though the price per unit might be higher than a lot of markets in CA, San Diego is a beautiful city with great weather and tends to have great appreciation.

BTW it's also very hard for a landlord to prove additional occupants and the courts are resistant to evict for additional occupants according to the attorney I use.My advise is to let it go.

I personally believe that the areas that have seen modest, slow and steady appreciation will better weather the next economic storm.  

While not exactly cheap (compared to some fairly decent laminate, say) it is extremely forgiving as regards moisture (spills etc) and hopefully abbrasion resitant and possibly even fairly scratch resistant.

However, he did say that they appeared "weathered" and were probably old.

Step #2 is where I am finding resistance - any advice on how to find a mentor I can add value as well as learn form?

And yes, I'll take a Pina Colada any day, time or weather haha