You are asked to assist our pest control by maintaining a high standard of good housekeeping.

- What are some best practices we should keep in mind to keep maintenance cost of the ADU to the minimum in the long run?

Good to see the city make some practical decisions.  

Is that standard practice from the research you have done?

Networking is always a great practice and you never know who you might meet there and what good information they have to share.

Smart guy with the most practical advice, some great books, and he started in California.

The terms like the 70% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio and 3% origination fee you were quoted are standard but can vary depending on the lender.

Most LLCs are set up for liability protection or similar non-tax reasons, and especially in CA, the penalties for "non authorized" practice of law are steep that a lot of CPAs will not even form the LLC for their clients. 

Take the basic course requirements, complete the modules, and when its time to register for the state exam you can order a real estate exam question workbook from Amazon and use that to practice. 

They have every incentive to make sure construction is up to standard since they will receive 5-6% (to be split with buyer's agent depending on state) of the sale price in commission.