You should leverage yourself to the maximum that you can still maintain your sanity (some people can't sleep and it affects their mental health when they carry too much debt), and you can still survive downturns in the economy to avoid bankruptcy.

Economic Update(Monday, September 14, 2020)A majority of Los Angeles households face serious financial problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Latinos and Black residents bearing the brunt of the economic pain, according to a new poll conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the Harvard School of Public Health.

#BRRRR #orangecounty Generally it must be a complete and livable home that does not have any obvious health or safety hazards, assuming you want a good Fannie Mae type loan.You may be able to get a listing agent on a "cash offers only" to budge a bit and go for an offer backed by a hard money lender, but if that listing agent already has that mindset then they will not go for an offer backed by a Fannie type loan.

I also had to account for items such as health care, no social security or 401k matching, etc. 

You probably wouldn’t take health advice from a heavy smoker and drinker...

The health care seems nice though.What changes do you see in the future, if any?

In real estate, you can make money in numerous ways....without experiencing them first hand, you wont know where to dig in. 

There are numerous first time home buyer programs out there, but none allow investment properties. 

Within a week of him moving in, we had numerous complaints from neighbors and the HOA about loud noises like domestic abuse, etc.

Many young health care professionals like to rent in the surrounding communities.