Feel free to PM me with more questions if you have them.  

References - I am not referring any names in this post for the sake of privacy for the home-owners and hence the characters in this situation will be referred as -Wife - "W", Husband - "H", Brother of Wife - "B"Attorney (from wife's side) - "A"Property 1 - "P1"Property 2 - "P2"I will try to explain the situation as clearly as possible, please feel free to post below if you have further questions. 

Please feel free to PM and I can tell you the areas where I feel have the most ROI using this method and potential for appreciation in San Diego. 

If you want to message me directly feel free but here's the list of questions I recommend every investor to ask their banks as they interview them (remember, you are the customer. 

Start with BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide (free).

My goal is to create passive income through rental single or multifamily properties and become financially free to be able to give my beautiful wife and my new born son the life they deserve.

In return, I get to live in one of the units for free.

It won't be the fastest way to grow, but paying off debt and having free and clear rentals is never a bad thing!

If contractors advertise "Free estimates" they aren't very busy, and just because they charge for a scope/budget doesn't mean its accurate.

So feel free to search for it if you're interested!