It is in a neighborhood called "Mount Hope" which is on the rise historically but compared to the rest of the East Side is usually the least desirable in my experience. 

Historically, I've picked about 6-10 properties to view in different class neighborhoods so that if I didn't find anything specific on that trip I would be comfortable purchasing without physically seeing it. 

However, historically San Diego has great appreciation both rent and market. 

There is a historical plaque on the front of the house and they say there is a possibility the house is on the national historic registry.2.) 

And yes I feel their maintenance costs are high, so I have some outside contractors also ready to go give me additional bids if they are very high on something, as they historically have been. 

Here are a list of advantages (not in my order of importance) 1) FHA (lower down = reduced entry cost). 2) self managed (saves ~12% annually in PM fees and provides the best opportunity to learn). 3) Expertise in the market (you live in LA and know the areas of LA). 4) Does not require the trust of a team that OOS investing requires. 5) Historical appreciation (both rent and market: There are few locations in the country that has historically produced the ROI for buy n hold of LA. 

Either way, we are still at historic lows.If the govt. gets their proposed infrastructure plan approved, expect an already tight labor market to heat up, causing inflation and eventually Fed action.

Interest rates are going up but they remain ridiculously low from a historical perspective.

I have an 1825 3-family and an 1870 four-family in a little historic district near downtown Cincy that I love.

Someone in the lending business will have to answer that question but it's likely because the 50K borrower performs better than the 35K borrower...illustrated by historic default statistics, rather than arbitrary preferences.