Essentially you have "dead equity" and a state of California that can be tenant friendly with your 400k property.If your paper investments are with REIT's their returns cycle heavily.

Also most deals with higher COC that I come across are lower quality products. 

The question is way too broad.A tax LIEN is essentially an IOU that you are buying from the government. 

Lots of them out there that provide essentially the same report (assuming you've had the required home/site inspection and have full access).

The 203k is a great option if you are going to be living there and while what @Travis Sperr said is true about the loan amount it sounds more like the banker just doesn't have the product in his arsenal.  

This is what makes it a portfolio product.  

Cap rate is essentially the percentage return you would make on your money if you bought it for cash. 

A license does offer a competitive advantage because, like Eric said, you can list your own houses and save part of the commission AND you can collect a commission on the front end essentially lowering your purchase price. 

Essentially I want to transition into Real Estate Investing and Developing in the long run.

Essentially, the Good Faith Estimate is combined with the Truth in Lending (TIL) disclosure, now called the "Loan Estimate," and the HUD-1 settlement statement is combined with the final TIL, now called the "Closing Disclosure."