Although I now consider myself a recovering consumer and have been financially sober for a couple of years now and have been completely rehabilitated for two months now.

One eviction alone can consume several years net income.

In my experience, the more "consumer" like is the transaction, the more likely that the Commission will come down hard on you.

First, I would really like to step back away from having a lot of time consumed maintaining my home and divert it to learning and be actively investing in real estate.

@Ryan, unless you are a spreadsheet wizard, building one yourself could be quite time consuming ... 

I think their primary point is that it can come across as "bait and switch" the end consumer and we're supposed to be protecting consumers.Sorry to be long-winded, but does that help at all?

A sale will consume that much of the value. 

As a way to encourage the sellers, you could have an agreement that says you will pay them $1000 or something when you find your tenant buyer, but in most cases you wont need to... so I wouldnt offer it unless you think it will be a slam dunk to sell.With regard to locating properties with signs down, or vacant properties... there is always a potential there, but often time consuming.

[url]http://hes.lbl.gov/consumer/.

There is another California law that applies to any company that offers advice or assistance to consumers in credit related transactions – called CSO’s – for unsecured or secured loans.