Only time they really get bought is buy a novice who thinks they can turn them into something, only for them to later find out that it's cost prohibitive.

@Max Bellino For smaller properties like your 2–4 unit multifamily buildings, an online cost segregation study is a quicker and more cost-effective option, providing sufficient accuracy for straightforward properties.

What ever you're doing to find/buy/create deals is working.

Focus on identifying promising neighborhoods in the north or east bay by leveraging your husband’s contractor network, local real estate agents, and online deal-finding platforms.

The city wants to tear the property and surrounding properties down Zillow said it’s worth 38000The city offer me 13000.I could use some adviceHard to give advice with limited information, but as a general rule, the longer you wait and the further down the line their project is the more valuable your property will be to them.Zillow (and all automatic online) estimates are very unreliable, so don't base on that.

If they are available online or in person.

I’d love to hear about the crime rates or any other issues (which we cannot guess from the online stats), and how easy or hard it is to find reliable tenants and property management companies.

It's the concept of buying the debt attached to the mortgage rather than buying the house. 

Let them know how much you enjoy living in the home and mention that you’re planning to buy your own property in 2025.

Duplex can always add additional units via the ADU laws. 8) Related to number 1, purchasing a property with an existing ADU is cheaper than buying a property and adding an ADU.