Currently I own a large real estate company and still get some great value out being in his inner circle of real estate operators. 

One thing to consider since you are a California resident investing is the compliance requirements for LLCs incorporated in California or operating as a foreign entity here - the rules here are different than most states.  

Each should be able to operate on its own.

Mostly due to the fact my spouse and I agreed on her to have zero involvment in any sort of RE investing (and its our home) I think once you have a good 6-12 months of reserve cash (operating expenses for your own life saved as a back up incase things go bad) save enough liquidity to get the ball rolling on your first invesment.

@Martin Manning To add onto what others have shared, in the most simplistic terms, apartment complex values are based on Net Operating Income, or NOI, and the cap rate.Price = NOI / Cap RateSo, if an apartment complex has an NOI of $100,000 and a market cap rate of 10%, the value is $1,000,000.Listing agents for complexes love to price based on a pro-forma, which is utter nonsense (unless you're in Austin, in which case apartment complexes apparently have floors made of gold).

Hi Richard, Do you currently own/operate LTRs?

Yes BofA is all over the country but if you go to your local branch it's pretty likely that loan officer and/or office wouldn't be licensed to operate in another state. 

I own and operate a property management business serving these areas.

The other is a smaller operation which does a lot of business in the specific neighborhood the house is in.

Estimating is both art & science and FWIW most professional estimators rarely get it spot on, usually operating within a Delta.There's tons of estimating books, software etc.