Wife and I are getting ready to make first major purchase and I wanted to share something that happened.After many months, I finally convinced my wife that the road to success will require us to downsize from our nice $250,000 single-family home in North Central San Antonio into something more modest, like preferably a live-in duplex or four-plex.

What exactly do you want help with and does this 'consultant' do that successfully?

Owns a large variety of assets in this area and looking to sell because his kids are older and have there careers spread across the country.

There's a big difference between reading books, listening to podcasts repeatedly, asking for advice on this site where the responders don't have a truly vested interest and a mentor that you're paying that has an absolute interest in your success.  

Fellow Investors in California, Bay Area to be specific, can anyone share their successful Subj. 2 deals?

If I had a few successful cash-flowing deals, it seems more realistic that I might be able to weather a bad deal easier.

It also depends on whether or not you are comfortable moving somewhere else if it were advantageous for your investing career to potentially reduce your personal cost of housing.If you're comfortable with leverage, then you should consider looking into a rental property.

It seems like a natural succession for a large multifamily unit owner to also own their property management company.  

get a real estate license and list them.. your doing a ton of work and bringing a product to market that wont sell through wholesale channels.. that's a huge waste of your time money and energy if you good at helping sellers.. get listings listings are money in the bank in many areas these days.. and its a career that you can do for a lifetime.. 

In general, copying off those already successful is a good idea.