I wanted to share a bit about my situation and get some advice from those more experienced in real estate.My wife and I live in Irvine, Orange County, as renters.

Your insurer could recommend one or you can check Google (and, of course, the reviews).

They had good reviews so I am planning on working with them and seeing how it goes.

Maybe you don't notice it, but it's notable to others who have experienced life outside of CA and don't have CA as the singular center and whole of the universe in their mind. 

I have attended local meetups so that I can have a handful of experienced folks who have resources to share.  

I think 2-4 units may better suit me at the moment until I am a bit more experienced.

Review the lease conditions with the property manager.

For example, I think a good way for me to start in real estate is to learn everything I can about underwriting, then find 1-3 properties on which I think the numbers make sense and post them here for feedback from more experienced members.

The mortgage should be considered null and void due to the bank having experienced no risk in the transaction. 

So when I'm reviewing screening reports for my rentals, I like to find out the story behind an eviction - I've had good tenants with evictions on their records who never bothered to expunge their eviction from the record when they had a prior vindictive landlord (yes, such landlords do exist and give the rest of us a bad name).