Right now I'm renting in my hometown of Oakland, CA and paying through my ears in rent.

I'm all ears for any other options/products. 

If you are buying a property as a long term investment there is nothing better than locking in that low rate for an extended period of time.

Any pointers or tips I am all ears. 

First, keep your ears open.

Alright I've got you locked in Edward.

I want to hopefully do it myself and not have to pay an attorney since at this point I only want to lock up the name and once I figure out what that LLC will focus on I will use it but right now just want the name.

There was an arbitrage  I couldn't pass up so I locked in a few 15s.  

And you can always give someone a rent discount for being your "eyes and ears" on the property, but that shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred bucks a month. reserves of $300/unit counted in expensesReasonable, but not an "expense," (i.e., shouldn't affect NOI/value).

You add no value by needlessly locking up a property that has already hit the largest buyer's list on the planet.