Paying for an online course before you know other investors and have gone to meetups is just paying to procrastinate.

Research local market rates to set competitive rents, and consider offering utilities or furnishings to attract tenants.

Hi Radhika-Congratulations on being a homemaker with young kids and looking to do more for the family financially now that the kids are older.You have 50K to get started but are having difficulty choosing markets and deciding where to begin and you are thinking about single-family long-term rentals out of state because you live in California.I would encourage you to start with duplexes, preferably with 2 bedrooms in each unit for tenant longevity, and ideally with separate utilities.

I’m always looking to implement best management practices so what can I, as a landlord, do to protect myself when accepting online payments?

@Yosef Ajami, we use Quickbooks Online for all of our Clients (including syndicators).

FHA-Owner Occupancy Loan, to limit down payment to be able to utilize for maintenance

I have corporate bookkeeping experience and can see all the money coming in online but there is no one there I can speak with about our account.

If you’re looking for a cash out refinance utilizing a conventional type of loan then you can certainly pay off personal debt.

While I don’t suggest that the smaller type investor purchase and utilize “exotic” vehicles like foreign asset protection trusts, family limited partnerships with outside controls, or Byzantine or convoluted maze of ownership entities, the more simple strategies of using Series LLCs, self directed retirement plans, and paying off their home mortgage to the extent of the Federal BK homestead exemptions can insure that a plaintiff attorney never even considers going after them.  

I wanted a cohesive, fairly upscale look, so bought new from a variety of places including a local furniture store, Amazon, Wayfair, Target online, Home Depot online, Pottery Barn, Article, and others.