This was my first time buying a property solely for an investing purpose, and Melissa Justice was the person that I was connected with to help me pick out properties.

So, landlords of exempt units don't even have to be concerned at all.   

I haven't lived in it long enough to be exempt from capital gains, good point on that.

Personally, I love working with distressed properties, especially foreclosures.

Gifting equity in a house may be more trouble than it is worth if you are not near the life-time exclusion1) Potentially having to get the property appraised everytime an equity is gifted2) Having a title company update the title every time3) Exemption of the gift tax return is normally for cash gifts below the annual gift tax exclusion, you may still need to file if you gift non-cash4) If there is partial ownership over several years, having to properly pro-rate certain items such as real estate taxes, mortgage interest and rental income if the property is a rentalBest of luck 

If one is transferring property title from personal name, a Grant/Warranty Deed would be drafted/recorded to transfer title. 

My husband and I live in SoCal (Long Beach area), looking for an in-person REI group that we could go to regularly in order to network.

Quote from @Randall Alan: @Geoff McFarlaneYou have 5 years to be able to take advantage of the ~$500,000 gain exemption.  

As already mentioned, you could sell via seller financing to lower AGI, as all you would have to claim is the payment income - until balloon payment received.Did know an investor that had 14 properties paid off and he moved into one every two years to then sell with the $250k single exemption.

Many opt for other investing methods in their SDIRA like private lending, crypto, private equity...anything except collectibles and life insurance.Note that a Solo 401k is exempt from UBIT on leveraged real estate so if you have self employment activity and no full time employees save for you and your spouse you should consider the Solo K as an option.