I am going to an extended family function in LA & SoCal.

Consider the local rental market - will a functioning pool allow you to get higher rent, or a better tenant?

Less people ( families) will find a 2 bedroom functional for them.   

Familiarity with the process, vendors and their functions, documents, local laws and REI terms by going through the process would be beneficial. 

You might benefit more from looking at the experiences and investing habits of high function professionals like medical professionals, professional athletes and successful business folk in other time demanding fields.  

Two things to help you find more people:1) Use the search function on BP and read through old threads.

It's all a function of the value-add. 6 Cap is not a cash flow proposition on the surface unless you can get it up to 8 or 9. 

Know your comps and visit them to not only ask what they charge but also to get a feel for the quality of the units, renovation level, curb appeal, functional obsolescence, etc.  

BiggerPockets has calculators that you can use to input the project financials and create a one-page PDF report to market your properties to potential investors.There are other paid services that provide similar functionality, but it's hard to say without knowing your investment strategy...

I keep hearing bits and pieces about a rental strategy that is best called "Renting to the Disabled by the Room for Above Market Rent" that goes something like this: (1) Buy a house with as many legal bedrooms as you can that still has a decent sized common area, (2) rent it out to the relatively high functioning disabled crowd, (3) via some [unnamed] Government program the State pays above market rents for each of the tenets. (4) Send a house keeper 1-2 times per week to ensure the place stays clean and otherwise make sure there are no issues.The up side is: you get above market rent with a much higher than average tenant count.