They follow a straightforward process that has proven successful throughout history: increase earnings, reduce expenses, save as much as you can, invest as much as you can, and wait patiently. 

Earn enough for down payment plus you will then have all of the lenders in your pocket when the time is right to buy your first property.

A cash-out refinance typically doesn't count as "earned income," which is the type of income that would impact Social Security benefits, especially if it's related to retirement or survivors' benefits.

So the ONLY GC's you will ever get to make this work with, are the GC's who are too small, too new, too green, too novice, to have earned the PROPER logistical system and account's to have obtained Manufacturer/Supplier direct pricing. 

Looking forward to making some great progress in this side of my career, make new friends and growing together.

I would also charge a lot more than I would for a residential rental.Honestly, I wouldn't recommend it unless you've really studied it and understand how to protect yourself and earn fair compensation.

I also think that paying off mortgages with earned income is not the best idea - it is a massive sacrifice over a long time that barely moves the needle.

Long term rentals are unattractive in CA imo especially since you can earn a lot more with different rental strategies even doing mid term rentals will still probably be more profitable than doing a long term rental.As far as hiring a contractor or bringing in subs for each item that will come down to how much you want to be involved, you'll save money finding and subbing out individual jobs but it will take you longer and you will need to manage everyone you hire and contract to do business with whereas a contractor will manage all that for you but there will be a premium put onto the price obviously for that. 

If a limited partner is in a tax bracket (earning less than 50k per year) approximately how much would they owe in capital gains after the asset is sold? 

My intention was to minimize my reported taxable income after taking expenses against the earnings through the LLC.