There are two reasons this is a bad idea.Investing with an SDIRA (assuming it is not a Roth) will often result in paying significantly more taxes. 

You are afraid of rent control, but if you add an ADU and it is detached, the main house (if built prior to 1978) may eventually become subject to LA Rent Control. 3.

You want the “how” to be complete, reasonable, consistent, and flexible.

We also live in a reasonably low cost of living area compared to the rest of the nation where the home prices we are looking at for rentals are between $200K and $250K. 

And yes, my reasoning is most of the existing duplex properties are in areas I would never live in being a single mom.

There’s no reason to go through a disaster (I'm mid recovery myself) and not get the financial upside by becoming the developer and selling a finished product versus raw land.If you have to completely rebuild, it’s a two year process at minimum.

You can offer whatever you think is appropriate and message the seller with your reasoning.

This is mainly how we find buyers to offload our learnkey properties too.

When you build enough capital/assets/net worth to afford a reasonable monthly cushion you can see if the lifestyle of a full time investor is something you’d want to pursue.  

The only reason I got an LLC was to buy a commercial property because it was a requirement of the lender.