I am also San Diego based real estate investor,Thanks

I would try not to tie up any of the principal in down payments.Personally, I had a family member do this same thing, but they used an investment portfolio as the collateral instead of real estate.If you play your cards right, this might be the only short-term money you ever need.Please let us know what you end up doing.

If you spend the entire $300k restoring the property, then here is the end result:- deductible casualty loss of $50k- no current tax- the restored property has $0 basis and cannot be depreciated- when it is later sold, the entire sale price is taxableMechanics and reporting are tricky, and I would not recommend to DIY it, especially since my scenario is over-simplified, and your real scenario is likely to involve more gotchas.Thanks so much. 

I'd suggest connecting with a Real Estate Attorney, and going from there. 

Personally if you are looking to grow in real estate going the traditional method/way of getting good properties under agreement with traditional financing will get you to where you want to go faster than trying to find all the needles in a haystack.

Multiplied by 3-5 bedrooms and that gets real expensive. 

In my case, I have residential rentals in one LLC, commercial properties in another, self-storage in a third, and my real estate company operates in a fourth.

I wanted to introduce myself and connect with both investors and fellow real estate professionals, especially those in the San Diego area.I’d love to hear any tips, insights, or advice you have as I navigate this journey.

The people that run these companies usually come from an "investment banking", real estate, or construction background.

It's a good idea to spend a couple of hundred dollars to meet with a real estate attorney or foreclosure attorney and go over what you can and what you can't do in the state you want to buy foreclosures in.For clarity, there are stages to foreclosure.