I work with local homeless shelters and actively place formerly homeless folks into my units under various programs administered by the city of LA. I

If you want to look at other markets we are seeing great buying opportunities in Colorado that is a little bit more of a balanced market than LA is.

@Becky Lai I would recommend www.homeriverpm.com They offer to pay a percentage of the repairs and maintenance and I found that based on that policy they find the most cost effective vendors.

Hello, my name is Lai: I'm a 20 year old motivated to achieve Financial Freedom for me and my family.I've been doing some research and came up with this plan.I will list out all my asset and liabilities that way you can see if there is a better strategy I'm missing or such.IncomesDad - 4,000 a MonthMom - 1,800 A MonthMe - 1,800 A MonthRental #1 - 750 A MonthTotal Income - $8,350 A MonthExpensesPrimary Mortgage - 1,500 A Month (1,000 for Principle and Interest / The rest for Tax and Insurances) (8 of a 10 year left)Whole Life Insurance - 1,000 A Month (About 3 years left on this)Groceries / Essentials - 1,000 A MonthOther Expenses - 1,600 A Month (Internet, Contract Phones, Cell Services, Gas, Gymn Membership, Travels, 10% to Church)Rental's Tax / Insurance - 250 A MonthTotal Expenses - $5,350 A Month8,350 - 5350 = 3,000 Monthly Cash-flowOther InformationPrimary House has 80,000 of the 125,000 in purchase price left in mortgage. (45k Equity if the house for what ever reason doesn't appraise for more)Rental Property - Completely paid off (it was our first primary home that we bought for 65k) (so that's like 65k equity right)Parents Saving - 40,000 (We are all on board to use 100% of our resources)My Saving - 8,000Organization - 20,000 that I'm holding for them (trying to stay away from touching other's money in case the investment fail or some and the organization ask for the money)Life Insurances - (could potentially take out 40,000 from it without having to pay it back, but that would kind of mess the insurance up since we already paid like 50k on it)Now's Come The PlanStarting Cashflow - 3,000 (750 is Passive)Buy 2 Duplexes - Down payment of 40,000Assuming Each Duplexes Produce Min of 400$ a monthCashflow increased to - 3,800Get a HELOC for up to 40k either through the rental property or primary (If I could get more like 60k I would buy 3 instead of 2 which would make it faster)Buy 2 Rentals - DP 40k (using heloc)Cash flow increased to 4,600Pay HELOC off in 9 MonthsBuy 2 rentals - DP 40k (HELOC)Cash flow increased to 5,400Pay HELOC off in 8 monthsBuy 2 rentals - DP 40k (HELOC)Cash flow increased to 6,100Pay HELOC off in 7 monthsBuy 2 rentals - DP 40k (HELOC)Cash flow increased to 6,900Pay HELOC off in 6 months Buy 2 rentals - DP 40k (HELOC)Cash flow increased to 7,700Pay HELOC off in 5 monthsBuy 2 rentals - DP 40k (HELOC)Cash flow increased to 8,500Pay Heloc off in 5 monthsIn 3 and A Half year we would own 14 Rental properties (all 20% payed down) plus the 1 we started with; All cashflowing $6,350 (400 x 14 + 750)Which would be 1,000 monthly Cashflow after if we quit our jobs.Obviously, we could keep going repeating the strategy to create more cashflow or focus on eliminating the mortgage off our homes and rentals.

I'm thinking about buying a property this year in LA. I

Despite the risks of changes in LA, I may go for another LA property to have a faster startup and a more streamlined business because of the "partners network".

@Ray Lai In response to your very valid comment, when I would "door knock" on pre-foreclosures I did exactly what @David Dachtera indicated.

But, I am familiar with what was going on at the time and how companies were selling including the Affiliate company in LA.  I

The cost to convert a garage in LA is now around $150K, but appraisers are only giving a value between $50,000-$75,000.

Then flippers come along and transform older properties into high tech modern pieces of art - that are really expensive (at least that's what happens in LA). I