They are highly secretive however - no online presence under their names while being very tech-advanced, they also installed like seven cameras around the house perimeter.

Don't invest in a market if you can't find a quality PM!

(Assuming quality of service doesn’t decrease.)No matter how you look at it, that is a ton of money.

Much of the country is at high risk between fires, hurricanes, tornados, tidal waves, earth quakes, rising tides, etc.  

Hard money and private investing are both ways to finance flips, but they work a little differently.Hard money loans are typically from companies or private lenders that specialize in short-term, high-interest loans.

Contractors, unless you have a working relationship with them, normally do not want you bouncing ideas off them.Understand what their hourly rate is, have a discussion with them that you are okay with paying them an hourly rate if they walk the property with you and provide you a scope of work along with an explanation of what you can/can't get away with in regards to improvements.ask them if you go with them, if they can credit you the amount that you paid.Once you develop a working relationship with a few contractors, you can bounce ideas off them and expect quality responses.I do not invest in New York.Best of luck. 

@Chris Shon Hiring a real estate-focused tax accountant can be highly beneficial, especially if you’re new to navigating the complexities of real estate investments and LLC filings.

Without the high leverage you reduce the top source of return in CA RE which is achieve via the appreciation on a high leverage property.  

Yes, I have been involved with several "mold" properties that still had high mold levels after remediation.  

I've decided that finding "deals" in Arizona is unnecessary as there are other markets that one need not search high and low to find something that can produce a decent cash-on-cash return.