I know a lot of people have been successful using a lot of debt to build their portfolio it's just not the way I do things.

Get rid of debt, build a budget, and save.

I wouldn't spend too much time on low money down and how to find a deal, I would focus on building your own personal equity so you don't need to do that.

If your focus is to accommodate your mom and you can hold onto the property for a bit, I think you could definitely build equity and eventually generate cash flow from it.

Do most newbies normally hire out a GC to build their first house? 

I am also nervous about it not cash flowing at all but I think buying in southern California and holding long term is an almost certain strategy to build wealth.

Heat often isn't distributed throughout a building equally. 

I'm looking to build a wholesaling business around SFHs here in Southern California (Riverside County, specifically), then expand in time to MFHs, possibly commercial.

Option 2: Purchase additional properties and build portfolio I know that there are some tax implications to no having the mortgage payment to consider.

I am open to other scenarios.We have access to $200k ish in equity in our primary.We will soon have access to another $100-150k for retirement/investing/IBC/etc.I would like to move into my young family into a (new build or fully renovated side by side) duplex.