My term is 1st+last + security. 3 times rent of about 900$ is not something ordinary people (not rich but "working") should have?

I am allocating part of the security deposit for cleaning and trash removal.Looking ahead, I will be much more rigorous about screening the tenants and enforcing my lease. 

I believe you can put down as little as 3.5% and even if you just secure a duplex, you could live rent-free (off the rental from the other side) and could save up faster for your next purchase. 

This would also afford me the security of having around $6K cash flow monthly coming in from my business should I have some unforeseen “bumps in the road” with my rookie real estate investing but also afford me true potential to grow my real estate portfolio.Plan B is to sell my business and use the cash to purchase several multi-unit properties or even an apartment.

I don't understand how people in a very competitive industry can turn down business - especially when I've discussed what I want to do in the next 6 months and told them I have secured my funding. 

@Glenn McCrorey the last time I went in a bank and mentioned your name, I was quickly escorted out by security!!

18 USC 1344 - Bank FraudWhoever knowingly executes, or attempts to execute, a scheme or artifice— (1)  to defraud a financial institution; or(2)  to obtain any of the moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities, or other property owned by, or under the custody or control of, a financial institution, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises;shall be fined not more than $1,000,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.

We do not currently have the funds to absorb a failure of the heating system, but there's enough income to budget 10k annually for capex and still hit a 10% cap rate, so it's something we could remedy within the first year or two.I reached out to a business contact and asked if he would secure contingency funds in exchange for a percent of AFFO (basically, we'd pay him a portion of the income in exchange for the right to use him as a private lender in the event that one of the systems failed before we replaced it).

We installed a security camera and she’s flipped us the bird twice today.

I’d be careful throwing around numbers like “the California housing market went down by about 35%”CA is a huge state with a wide variance in prices - but the Bay Area was most certainly not hit as hard as you suggest.