It’s sounds like the pros outweigh the cons, and there are contingencies to mitigate the risk, as you mentioned by screening appropriately.

If you have the option to continue living at home, you can see if foregoing the first time homeowner benefits are worth it if you could instead collect more rent for the unit you wouldn’t be occupying (by more I mean that the potential rent of that one unit outweighs the benefit of first time homeowner benefits).Personally, I prefer Multifamily homes over single family homes because it gives you a safety net in case a unit is vacant - at least you have the other unit(s) producing income.

If you can find a good realtor though who you know will fight to get you extra money, they're worth every dollar to pay full commission as I know their negotiation skills will far outweigh the commission.

Do the benefits outweigh the risks?

If it helps you reach your financial goals, and outweighs the cons of doing the deal, then do it.

Unfortunately, that's actually as close as the wrong lawsuit happy person stepping in a hole on your property and twisting their ankle- but an LLC would offer your personal assets {and other investments} safe)If it's just yourself, taxes are not so complicated with a SMLLC (single member LLC) so that shouldn't be a huge reason not to use an LLC(s), as the protection benefits offset/outweigh the small steps during tax time.For future note, it's simply a matter of attaching Schedule C form to your Individual Income Tax Return (IRS Form 1040) and showing a total profit or loss as part of your total income that's being reported.

Hi BP,I've been managing my own rentals locally for the last 4 years and believe heavily that the burden of doing it myself outweighs the cost of paying a property manager. 

It seems that the purchase prices of these homes is outweighing the rental potential. 

Still, for many families, the benefits of living in a wildfire-prone location outweigh the risks.

Is my benefit going to out weigh the cost.