Thank you for sharing.Great to achieve one's goals...inspiring

However, there's a balancing act between down payment, interest rates, and loan term to ensure your payments remain affordable for the buyer.

A balanced approach that favors appreciation but requires adequate CF is my preferred strategy. 

All the times they said that I cannot achieve anything and I would be nothing.Honestly, I even had to reach into my cookie jar to write this blog!

Also, you’ll need to keep all of the sellers current financial situation in mind like outstanding loan, etc so that it makes sense for them and they don’t need the full lump sum balance. 

That’s good, it helps you keep the balance, although she recently went and bought a property at auction and bid $ we don’t have, now I’m scrabbling around trying to come up with $$ in two weeks.

She has recommended us considering in-state investing, but we are nervous investing in CA given how renter-friendly it is.Our philosophies for starting now are 1) we want to achieve financial freedom/escape the 9-5p in our 40s by building a strong passive income real estate portfolio, 2) we want to start gaining experience now/we've only heard anyone's regret ever being that they wish they started sooner, and 3) we sense that if the math works, the math works (and not with rosy numbers, but with very realistic numbers with plenty of risk baked in like vacancy, maintenance cost emergency fund, etc)Thanks, really looking forward to some constructive feedback/conversation!

However, one tenant is currently covered 100% under Section 8, and, upon reaching out to the seller agent to learn more they mentioned that this tenant has an unpaid balance of about $300.

There is no right way to do it, you just have to set your goals on what you want to achieve, and what you want to give up to achieve it (time, resources, etc).

You'll need a minimum balance to cover expenses and at least a few months of mortgage payment.