You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.4.

I always try to plan for worst case scenarios, and carry enough reservesGino

See if you can get a positive result on this deal as quickly as possible and then figure out the mistakes and next steps.  

Verifying last 2 years of rental history and income extremely important to find the “best of the worst”.Make sure you understand the Class of properties you are looking at and the corresponding results to expect.The City of Detroit has 183 Neighborhoods we’ve analyzed.PM us if you’d like to discuss this logical approach in greater detail!

I enjoy helping and talking REI to help other members avoid mistakes.

Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

But, in the event you really are persuaded that it is important to separate each asset, ensure that whoever is managing the books/monies on the LLCs are doing it 100% correctly as even a small mistake can allow would-be litigants to pierce the corporate veil and render all of it in vein anyway. 

@Jackie Liu right off the bat, you're making a common mistake!

People assumed California would be the worst-performing state because the baseline level of affordability was so low.

And I think one of the WORST ways to go it is "find an agent who also invests" because there going to pump JUST what they do as being "the way", because it's what they do, so now your pigeon holing yourself to "A" persons personal preference.