The antique church doors were outside being damaged by weather.

Excellent schools, major research university, clean air (outside of wildfire season!)

If multifamily is outside of your budget, you can always do rent by room strategy in a single-family home or look into a short-term rental strategy with something like Airbnb or VRBO. 

Disclaimer - I don't have stocks (outside my 401k) and know very little about the stock market.

If you want to contribute to the down payment in exchange for a percentage of the profits/cash flow, you can draw up an agreement outside of the purchase contract (see a lawyer for help). 

@Maxwell Ventura Great info but, again, the price tags seem to be just outside of our range. 

Thanks for your perspective.If you interview for a job and your resume is perfect and you have all the skills it does not mean the employer will hire you.Same thing here.I do not want to deal with the people that do not have basic decency and good manners.And I do not like tatted women with a chip on their shoulder.If their outside is messy just think what is hapenning in their mind.These people are trouble makers.I do judge a book by its cover.Period. 

For the deposit your location may play a role but where I live there is no limit to the deposit you can take outside of the market. 

Why not do 10% down, no MI on a portfolio loan in another state outside CA?

Went down one day in winter, cold outside, and they had heat full blast.