Remember real estate is generally a long term investment and plan accordingly.

Having the assessment coverage on your condo policy is cheap and can save you some pain. 

I love it in San Diego, have family there and plan to move there at some point in next 10 years or so either way.  

Planning to build 4 bed 2.5 bath 2200 square feet. 

@Bruce Tieuhouse hacking is a great way to get started and I think your plan is great - but I would reset your expectations on the numbers:1. the goal of a house hack isn't to live for free. 

Keep your money in a bank, save a little each paycheck.

I have 14 days to appeal the commissioners denial and plan to try to go to the BACP next week for some guidance.

I plan to refinance when the rates go down. 

A $10k price reduction usually equates to around $35-50 in monthly savings (on a $250-300k loan amount) but a $10K interest rate buy-down can reduced monthly installments by $250/mo or more on a   What are you seeing in your portfolio or real estate/mortgage business?

You probably need to have some pretty deep conversations on how you plan to get the things in life each of you want.