@Cristina AndinoThe solo 401k is also another retirement vehicle that can be invested in notes as well as real estate.

Since the real estate in the San Francisco area is ridiculous, and ultimately unaffordable for me, I'm looking to do business outside of the area.I have a pretty big focus on using various investments as a vehicle to reach financial independence early on, and REI is another way for me to diversify. 

wanting phone #, and Vehicle info ,  its fine  if all owners need to abide by and give their info to the association, they don't ....    

Keep a tenant information sheet for each unit that includes the names of the occupants, vehicle descriptions and pet/animal descriptions.  

I'm trying to come up with a 5 year plan on purchasing properties through any possible vehicles (loans, investors, etc).  

You always want to offer "help" or solutions..I know in many cases, if you have a vehicle that says " I BUY HOUSES" Plastered on it, potential sellers do not want it in their driveway.  

At least as it relates to buying SFR's as cash flow vehicles.. you may want to think about small Multi because those will generally always sell for a cap rate if rents increase your value goes up... but you will hold value better in the mid west markets Brie may want to speak to that I think that is what she buys in small multi's  cash flow is better generally and values hold and sell at cash flow numbers. 

 - For roughly the same reason mentioned above, we could see a massive exodus of cash away from REITs and other RE investment vehicles, just was we've seen the massive influx over the last few years.  

Surely you're not saying "Lease options are no longer legitimate vehicles to sell houses." 

The rainy day fund is already a set aside amount of cash that I suppose could be invested in short terms (again boring) CDs or purely safe vehicles.