Each month, I offer BP members the opportunity to meet up with me at Investclub for Women in Studio City, of which I am a member.I would also be interested in doing additional meet ups in the area.Will

Markets closer to where you live tend to be easier to get started with as you might be able to learn the processes of managing a short term rental.

Our screening process tends to keep riff raff out, but like any real estate deal we see the occasional problem child and deal with them swiftly before they upset the order of the home.  

Same goes for number of LLCs and what to fund them with, since bear in mind that CA tends to be more cumbersome and expensive to have LLCs than other states.California is generally more cumbersome than other states when it comes to taxes and filings.

@Michelle MayfieldI am a real estate agent and investor in Houston, TX.Katy, Cypress, Spring, some parts of Houston, Conroe, Tomball, Pearland are great markets.These cities tend to command quality tenants, and they have great schools.Get in touch with a local agent or investor and shorten your learning curve and save you a lot of headaches as they tend to understand the market better.All the best!

Union city tends to be a little more strict, especially with rent by room/ large groups living in property. 

Wholesalers tend to overinflate the ARV and under estimate repairs needed as many do very little due diligence, putting all the risk on you. 

FSBO's almost always think their property is worth more than it is, are difficult to schedule showings with, haven't prepared the property to sell, are unwilling to negotiate, and they almost never know the sales process or have the software or the contracts to make the transaction go smoothly and keep the deal from falling apart over little things (very common when there are no agents to act as mediators, buyers and sellers have inherently opposing interests and tend to argue then cancel the deal).

Of course, I tend to focus on distressed properties which means I get them for well under the average market cost. 

Lenders are still unfortunately tend to be very conservative on the rent-by-room (SRO) type arrangements still - its an area that really could use some better understanding out there but just be careful with expectations because a lot of the treatment of these properties (even if nothing like a old-fashioned "boarding house") can be tough