I can send you a free guest pass to our general meeting next week and you can network with a couple hundred local investors and meet all kinds of vendors with hard money, private money, trades, title and wholesalers.

Quote from @Jordan Laney: I would call a couple snow removal businesses in the area and see what they would charge for that..

I'm not familiar with California but I know living in Florida, the closer you are to the ocean the more expensive it is to live.

I just don't see it going down significantly more than the current state... but again who knows.. it's Dubai like you said

(Compared to the usual 30-40 year path.) do they think people with a million or millions in stock just got there?

A couple strategies that could make sense for a younger person without experience could be a live-in flip or a house hack.

Thanks.It’s definitely worth a conversation with your neighbor, but as others have pointed out, they might see it as you benefiting more than them.

I used SunCoast for a couple of my properties.

Building prices and interest rates are so much worse than when I signed the contact with them.  

One of my early properties barely broke even, but after a couple of years, rent hikes and expense optimization turned it into a strong performer.For cash flow benchmarks, I usually aim for $200-$300 per unit, but your situation.. house hacking.. offers unique benefits like reduced living expenses and quicker equity buildup.