Not going to give here a lecture on S-corps, but take my word: no benefits, only extra hassle and extra cost, such as preparing another tax return.

Based on an inspection report on one of the deals I worked on last year, I was able to negotiate over $15k of credits and repairs for a $200k house using a $400 inspection report for one of my clients.

Just some notes to consider based on what your unit is like. 

I have seen loan qualifications based solely on passive investment income from rental properties, social security/disability payments, pension payments, etc. 

Since you are based in California, do you know of any good CPAs who are geared towards real estate investors ?

Hey Dominic,Thank you for the nice words and advice!

If you die while holding the property, it gets a stepped up value and all the gain is tax free.If rental the taxes can be deferred via a 1031 and if you die while holding it, it gets the stepped up bases with gain forgiven.Hopefully the numbers provide some example of possibilities. 

Have flexible repayment terms been a game changer for your deals, and if so, how have you leveraged that flexibility to scale your investments?

As others said out of state can be more challenging based on location but local or out of state both can be done. 

Chris, I can't seem to share a document on here to send you one of mine, but you can copy/paste the following template into a Word Document and create your own.