I think the approach I'll take is to leave my money in stocks and start saving and building up some capital to invest in a rental property.  

But in the case I find a buyer on my own, what would be the best approach?

This property is located in Southern California so I am not sure what would be the ideal approach to make things go smoothly with the law here. 

I’ve been approached by a friend (call him A) to be part of an LLC company that would buy properties for rehab and rental.

I wanted to know what would be the best way to approach this strategy?

I'm new to BiggerPockets after finding their blog incredibly useful / informative.  

Beyond that, I like your approach starting slow and trading up to bigger assets.Good luck. 

Life always seems to revolve around houses.I have been interested in real estate for a long time, seeing a great aunt rent the house next door and talk about how the rent check covered the mortgage on the house and part of the taxes on her next door house, which I though was incredible especially as I grew older and learned about the tax benefits of owning a house and rental house.  

With that being said, I would approach from the angle of building a lasting business relationship with the individual.

However, I read stories on how older investors act as mentors to newbies and give them incredible deals on properties.