Whether it’s investing in educational materials, leveraging tools for data analysis, or seeking out mentorship, these resources will be your foundation for long-term success.

.- Almost impossible to get any kind of unit damage paid for beyond what you have in a security deposit The rest of your statements about the homes needing a ton of work, contractors costing the same, and dealing with properties that are very tough to force appreciate are spot on.I personally do not invest in Section 8 housing anymore because they are normally cash flow purchases.  

not to be discouraging, but just to help set expectations: the market is really, really tough for cash flow right now. 

Driving for dollars can be an effective strategy the costs (gas, time, energy, materials) have to be added to the deal analysis. 

.* We request as much due diligence material as possible in the beginning.* We get as close as possible to ironing/feeling out deal terms that would be agreeable to the seller in advance of submitting an offer, including site visits if they are located in the same market we are vs. out of state/market.All of the above data provides us with enough of an analysis to know what our deal parameters are going to be, at least to within a few percentage points.

Alas - I learned every step of the way about ordering materials, working with contractors, scheduling, insurance issues, etc.

If you have relatively little cash, it's tough to beat putting 5% down or less.

Not to mention insurance, LABOR, water/sewer rates, building materials, etc. 

Yeah, LA is real, real tough to invest in for lots of reasons.

Basic services like garbage collection don’t qualify.Material participation: Owners must pass one of the seven material participation tests, such as:You spend more than 500 hours working in your short-term rental business.You carry out all the necessary tasks to run the business yourself.You work more than 100 hours in the business, and no one else contributes more time than you do (this is often considered the best and easiest test to meet).