People like Lehigh Valley, and I get that, but NJ will always have traffic and business, despite the high taxes. 

I would intern at what ever real estate companies your interested in.My daughter was interested in finance.. and she interned during collage with a high level appraisal company that did apprasing for emanate domain cases.. and she worked on the one in Napa CA were the state and city bought out a big swatch of the napa river for flood control project and many business had to be relocated from hotel to shopping center to car dealer all of them needed to be valued.. it was high level work she enjoyed it.she then went on to graduate top of her class at Davis CA.. in managerial economics degree and promptly got snapped up my Intel after offers from Apple and Micro soft.now 14 years later she is a SEnior controller and a Dave Ramsey disciple which means at her age home just about paid for 2 kids in grade school and NO debt and a ton of savings and max's out her 401k.. she has little interest in real estate she owns one rental but only rents it to family. that was her path.  

If you are considering a short commute (nothing is short in LA...soooo much traffic) you might want to consider Studio City/Valley Village, just on the other side of the canyon (much better area, less traffic, more scenic route to commute instead of 101HWY).

I went to River City today, and while they look promising on rehab loans, they told me they only do 15yr mortgages, so no conventional long term loans there.     

. - It was through a small local bank called “Nodaway Valley Bank”.

In regards to modular, I actually have been developing a fourplex that I plan to build several of in Spokane Valley, in a modular build style with Champion Homes out of Weiser, Idaho. 

One issue you could have is that a lot of banks require a 1 years seasoning period before they will refinance.As for transferring it to an LLC after you have financing, it could technically trigger the due on sale clause but I doubt any bank would actually call the loan.I use Spring Valley Bank and they should be able to do it no problem. 

I currently live in the Central Valley of California, but will be moving to San Diego, and I am interested in buying a property in Imperial Beach.

I grew up fishing the Willamette and Columbia rivers.

Here is how it works:Over the past 7 years the Vegas Valley has seen enormous growth in the housing market and home values.