Mario Furmanczyk,seriously if you are determined to play with LA's rent control laws and renting in California in general,you need to find a very good real estate attorney who is an expert in rent control laws and California rental laws in general.California is one of the most difficult places to do business and landlords are treated like criminals waiting to be caught by our court system.You need serious protection with good lawyers who will help you stay in compliance and keep you out of financial troubles.Good luck to you.

Depending on the policies of the real estate company they may take a flat fee or a % of transaction (remember there is only one side your agent is representing so you should be able to secure representation for 3% or less of purchase price), negotiate that up front.

I just read into buying multi units via FHA the other day and did read about the max number of units I just figured there were ways around it even if it meant putting down say 7% vs. 3.5 but if that were the case I guess it would still make more financial sense to stay with the 3.5 on a 4 unit.

Our goal is to one day achieve our level of financial freedom to be able to give our family the life that we are dreaming of. 

There is nothing a CPA can do that an EA can't except for provide you audited financial statements (the person preparing them cannot audit them anyway).  

I worked with them, and their financial support agencies, so they were able to line up alternative housing.

I'm looking to secure a property with private money/HML just long enough to get financing at a small local bank.

I work full time in healthcare, and I'm starting this to hopefully become self-employed and financially independent.  

What steps did you take in order to secure this deal?

It is unfortunate that so many low income people have this house as their largest asset and have zero clue what's it worth and tend to make bad decisions when faced with their greatest financial challenge.