More often, it’s achieved by those who labor long and hard.

My ultimate goal in real estate is to achieve financial freedom and I came across BiggerPockets in my search for real estate information/knowledge.I'm really looking forward to learning more in the coming months from this community and hoping to make some new friends!

Whether or not its better to buy a 4 plex depends on your goals concerning this proposed equity.If you want to retain future appreciation from the Irvine market like was mentioned above you may retain this condo unit while cashing out the 75% of 460 (max per guidelines conventional) = $345,000 to  redeploy else where in hopes of achieving your objectives.Keep in mind that $345,000 @4.625% 30 year fixed is approx 1773.78 per month in addition to your current HOA/TAX/HO6 condo policy so you may find yourself in a negative cash flow position depending on how much you plan to take out.

You have achieved something that many of us are striving for.  

I have been reading mixed reviews so I'm a little confused but I do want to build a rental portfolio and figured this be one of several ways to achieve that.

. #2 Make sure you will be able to achieve the rents you are expecting.

Here's why....First, achieving passive income via SFRs is a very legitimate goal.  

Figure out which one supports your most immediate needs for achieving your long-term goals and become EXCELLENT at it.  

So if you get this wrong, even though you have 40% FAR you might not be able to build two stories to achieve it. 

I've been doing a lot of research and thinking, if I could manage to buy 15 units each at around $30K (I'm still trying to figure out the right market) with rents on avg $600, with the cash flow from the investment, I could pay the HELOC and LLC loan payments, primary residence mortgage and other cost of living.Once I achieve this, I could expand my real estate portfolio using a portfolio lender and LLC earnings.These thoughts have been keeping my up at night :)