He has 3 years to cheap skate repairs.A lot can happen in the next three weeks.

CA (especially San Jose and Silicon Valley in general) is a roller coaster as you already know.  

HD sells a cabinet quality paint I have used on a couple of kitchens that does a really nice  job with brush and roller.

Most will tell you not to bank on appreciation but Austin has 30 years of pretty much a constant stead flow of appreciation with no roller coaster rides or dips lasting more than 18 months or so....in 30 YEARS.  

I was thinking of turning it into a large skating ring or putt-putt area but I'm running out of ideas fast so now I'm reaching out to the BP member brains.

Not in your state but you can call your asphalt or concrete ready mix supplier and have him list you 5-10 companies that do horizontal, tell them you need a contractor that has a grader, road roller/compaction equipment, couple of dumptrucks, and asphalt pavers.

What happens tenant kids ride in skate board and broke their legs....

There may be some benefit to doing this before one of those "very nice" homes becomes not so nice, or another neighbor decides to build a roller coaster in his front yard, or whatever... some general guidelines on upkeep and use could be handy.

The thing is it's going to take me more than 4 years to graduate due to the fact I work full time and I'm just going to school part Time, but hopefully by 26 I will be finishing up with school and have 5 rental properties it's going to be a roller coaster but I'm up for the challenge!

I agree with John; try your hand at it and if you fail, Lowe's sells a hard texture roller that you can roll with compound on the wall to create a new texture that is as fast as painting.