There was a two car garage in between the two units and they are in process of getting that permitted for an ADU, plus there is space for parking for each unit so that of course was a plus in LA...Then going from there, depending on $ and your comfort with risk there are many more options out there. 

The scenario where you use a conventional style mortgage makes the most sense in your shoes.

In your shoes, if you are using a low using a low down payment loan then there probably won't be enough equity left to sell or refinance so your only option is to hold.

I live in CA and I knew that I couldn’t “invest in my own backyard” comfortably, the risk was too high for me.

You should also start thinking about the condition of the property you'd be most comfortable with.

Any landlord worth anything would want to know about these issues so that his customer, you, are comfortable. 

My first property is in my parents hometown so i felt comfortable with the first-hand knowledge I had on the neighborhoods.

Would like a comfortable retirement.

As a PM you want prospects comfortable when they are looking at a home for rent. 

Personally if in your shoes I would rather make him an equity partner vs fee based, or pay on performance such as 10% of rents collected, something that is win-win and loose-loose based.