If this method of paying for help around my homes isn't legally sound in CA, I will have to change my ways. 

I would work with an investor-friendly agent who focuses on cold-outreach methods like cold-calling, cold-texting, etc to bring you off-market deals.

Other methods do too, but I can personally vouch for this one. 

Most of them lie about what they've done, when they did it, and how they did it.The time-proven method of building wealth is very simple: earn, save, invest.There was a time when you could buy properties cheap, rent them for more than your expenses, and then rinse and repeat.

Don't let that scare you, you really need an investor agent that also focuses on the BRRRR method that has all of the connections, deal flow, resources, & hustle to land good deals.

in know also it’s 25% down payment so it’s more down then the hard money loan method I’m using. 

If you really mean that all 4 of you are on title and mortgages for both properties, then you may want to look into methods to clean up title, if you desire to separate from each other. 

so again wholesaling is only a method in the big world of real estate and it’s part of real estate a big part of it actually so it’s best not to just ignore it it’s like knowing everything about math but you never learned how to subtract but you know how to divide you know geometry and you know how complex trigonometry but you don’t know how to simply subtract that is almost equivalent of ignoring the art of wholesaling real estate.

Have you tried this method?

Video Tours and Live Streaming:  Offer live video tours or virtual walkthroughs of the property, allowing out-of-state buyers to view the property in real-time and ask questions remotely.Combining these methods, sellers can effectively market their property to buyers in different states, maximizing exposure and increasing the likelihood of a successful sale.