Truthfully for me, Donny and his crew made all the difference and if I need something like that again, I will look for Donny.  

Either have quality from afar or run a more problem property locally for increased cash flow yield.Constant traveling far away to a lower class asset on continual basis will suck away a lot of your time and cash and you have to build that in to see if the extra risk is worth it for the upside.Investors like to keep problem properties close to home and re-cycle capital.

I appreciate you saying that, because I've been conflicted about whether or not I should tell the realtor the "whole truth".

Never know, they might not do much but might give you an extra 500$ toward that problem.

I am also from San Diego and would love to go back a few years and buy some extra properties.  

ie. extra cash out means no hole!

He will hopefully have extra equity built in to the deal but the difference between a $30k and $40k house market wise may not be anything.

There is no requirement for the seller or sellers broker to tell the truth as there is in single family to buyers who will occupy.

I would believe most people are not able to put extra cash towards a remodel after buying a house. 

You can deploy that extra capital now while interest rates are low.