I don't like seeing a bunch of blue haired nerds running around crying about how evil their landlord's are for forcing them to pay their rent on time, but I don't want being a blue haired nerd to become a criminal offense.

If you do have a TX LLC just to hold a TX property, you still have to register in CA as a foreign LLC, which still means paying the CA LLC tax.

Furthermore if they are always paying they probably will stiff you in the end if they know they aren't going to get the deposit back. 

That's disappointing, I'm here to learn and would happily pay for it if I used it extensively.

You need to read the sheriff sale information carefully, or if in a county with a magistrate then read their ruling. 

I found this deal listed for sale on LoopNet.

I recommend you start with duplexes as you should always have a paying tenant.

Or better yet your properties can start paying off your properties.

We mostly buy rentals but will do an occasional flip in a market with strong sales comps.The markets buy in are DFW, OKC, Tulsa, Houston, Little Rock, Memphis, San Antonio and Birmingham metros. 

You could also use a listing-only service from a brokerage where you'd pay them $200-$300 to list it on the MLS, and you/your team would take all incoming calls from interested buyers, but it's a bit slimy since the seller may see it listed on the market when you appeared to be buying it.That would be the maximum value-capture of your off-market lead machine.