They were working VERY fast and in 5 days they are like 70% done (and bc of my lack of experience I let them work 5 days without showing me the plans) I realized that the new stairs done the right way are taking LITERALLY all my deck space.

@Guy Gimenez If it's one thing I'm learning about real estate its that there are thousands of rules.  

Anywhere from loosing about $4000 on my first to more than doubling my money in a month (and literally no work) on my most profitable investment.Invested in 6 buy and holds (7 doors) in SF and Richmond, CA.And a Realtor to boot.It is indeed a tough investors market in the Bat Area right now.

Josh,I can say from experience, that having your license literally cuts out the middleman with regards to the access to the MLS.

With covid and the eviction moratoriums, I had 2 tenants that went about 10 months without paying in 2020 and we could not evict, and when they finally were taken out, had to spend a few thousand to repair each unit.

And especially in SF, with rent control and urban density, you literally get extreme and absurd situations like a multi million dollar condo literally RIGHT NEXT DOOR to a rent controlled flat where the immigrant inhabitants (6 in a small 2BR) collect recyclables in their back yard.  

I also would only be able to get together a few thousand dollars in 2 months to cover closing costs, but not really any other money to 'put down'Do you advise, instead, that I do an FHA streamline refi, save my money (working my regular job) and in 2 years, try and refinance then (or sell and purchase another property)??

that's a very good questionmy answer is many of the metric's folks use to decide what a good deal is and what is not, are very regionalized... whats a great metric in one market may not even be remotely possible in another.perfect example is the west coast buy and hold investor pulling their hair out trying to find a 2% deal.. and realizing they either don't exist or are so rare that you would be super lucky to find one.And those in other markets were the 2% rule props are on every block literally and they won't buy them unless they are at least that or much higher in some instances.So this puts investors in a paralysis mode not being able to buy ...

Put a few thousand dollars in it including brand new interior paint, complete cleaning of the house, home staging and so on.

You may be able to buy several and literally improve the neighborhood.