Retire! 月光族is OK. First, before retire, get a HELOC of 200K or

Execute 1 and 2 before retire,

1. get a HELOC of 200-300K. (3 days notice withdrawal)

2. Re-sturcture your mortgage portfolios if needed.

3. Might not want to sell CA property because of Prop 13 and paying gain tax.

4. Put $100K in saving/money market with 1% interest. Same day withdrawal.

The $500K can be in bond, stocks, REIT(public or private) or Real Estate Fund.

It depends on your current asset allocations.

It seems your real estate exposure is high, then

The $500K can be in stock market index 50% US index such as VTI or SCHB(the fee is lower than Vanguard)

30% in International index SCHF and 20% in emerging market SCHE. 

Or you can build a 12-month or 3-year ladder of fixed income portfolio.