You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.4.

Telling you the whole story;  I still see now and then my personal reply to a seller who decides to reply to the multi month multi touch campaings that are built into this creative system, that the system sends out 3,4,6,8 msgs asking in different ways if they want to sell, if they'd like me to call etc etc, so they say; sure whats your offer. 

You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.4.

But you also have to subtract utilities, turn costs, starting items (kitchen and cleaning items you give them), and furnishing upkeep/maintenance.

You can do some sourcing yourself through facebook groups, wholesaler email list and and even picking up the phone and cold calling some home owners that may be tired landlords, doesn't owe anything and has built up some equity.With enough volume you should come across some solid deals that are worth closing on by the end of the year as you planned. 

She’s been advised to move her $35k 401k into real estate investing, and she wants to move closer to me.Potential Investment PropertyI’ve been actively seeking investment properties and have built a relationship with an experienced broker.

As a single-member LLC, the IRS considers it a disregarded entity, meaning the income, expenses, and other tax-related items will still be reported on your personal tax return via Schedule E.

Other answers might include the acronym CIA:  Credit Income and Assets but that leaves out the items Brandon mentions.   

I have a few things I am hoping to get some guidance on if possible:1) Can itemized deductions just be the quotes for things needing fixed/ cleaned?

Preemptively talking through issues that may arise (lowering rent, no payment for the month, big maintenance item, accounting error on your end) helps build that.Bring options to the table and educate the owner.