I provide that, plus a place to cook and do laundry in an environment that looks like Hugh Hefner decorated it.

But it seems this is a more conservative approach/more passive option which would be feasible while working full time.Another option I have been looking into is getting back into rentals (Class B). 

You might have decent odds if you are buying almost new class A in an A location but then cash flow can be minimal and purchase price higher but still might be cheap compared to California.Example a 4 unit in another state for an A location might be 400k but in California maybe who knows 1.5 to 2 million or something like that.

I just bought a 1930s C+ Class SFR as a rental that has "4 bedrooms", all upstairs. 

@Cindy Gonzalez You're not being too optimistic if you don't mind living in a C/D class neighborhood but you aren't going to find a $350k duplex/triplex in an A or B class area.

What if they are only middle class and the $20k was 10 percent of their savings?

.This is going to be hard on the bigger operators with very large apartment complexes in Oakland--I wouldn't want to buy a Rent Roll in a Class A, B or C area consisting of unknown cut throats and tough to deal with residents.Plus I wouldn't want to have my property managers quit due to not being able to deal with hard to handle types. 

Most of my current properties are B and C class neighborhoods and one delinquent tenant can kill the cashflow for that building for the year, e.g. lost rent, legal fees for eviction, heavy turnover of $10,000 due to a trashed unit.

What class of property and neighborhood are you comfortable with?

As a result of the taking the courses through Kaplan, I saved myself 8 months of going to classes, not to mention the travel time, homework commitments, etc.