Your experience and earning potential from your previous job, which paid over $100K a year, can play a crucial role in supporting the business.One possible approach could be for you to explore employment opportunities again while your wife continues to lead the flipping business.

There are also a number of things that could happen to shift many of those people who would have gone to SF to other markets something we have seen with places like Austin esp as employers realize that there is talent there along with major cost savings. 

Something to think about-in the Great Depression unemployment was 25%, that means 75% of the workforce was employed.

Tertiary markets with less stable employment bases that are reliant on a few employers will carry higher cap rates than properties in the middle of a large city.

When I say college education, I am referring to a 4-year university, not 3 years at a community college, then some part-time or online college.Obviously certain majors have better statistics with respect to salary & employment data, but part of going to college is learning about yourself & pursuing a degree in a field one finds interesting.

Mostly you will do your customer and your employer a disservice. 

It's very hard to acquire a loan when you're self employed or don't have a job.

In 2011, Philadelphia enacted what was termed "ban the box" for employment applications.

You need to be able to not only read an appraisal, but read between the lines and examine the values.You don't need to be an accountant or a finance major, but you do need to be able to read a financial statement if you deal with any business or self employed borrowers.

Increasing employment (energy, aerospace, healthcare), pro-business city government, increasing commercial real estate investment.What else do you want to know?