Real estate investing has been a passion of mine for time with my mother also having invested early on where I likely have gotten the love and desire to follow similar foot steps.I have taken last 6 months to educate myself and currently own a single family home as primary residence and would like to expand to multi family properties (2-4 units) for additional stream of income, not to mention potential tax benefits for long-term investing.Based on current living situation, I have a fair amount of equity established in my primary residency along with having enough cash to either pay off house completely or use towards investing in a multi family property.Given that I'm the sole source of income for our household with my wife being the home maker for our two kids under 2, trying to weigh out risks with getting started now or perhaps waiting. 

california has had statewide rent control on mf units for ~5 years.My experience with rent control is that in the near term rents increase more than without rent control.

BRRRR all comes down to finding the right distressed properties at the right price, then identifying the right long term financing. 

The buyers and renters in that area, due to the low income, won't have any other options in terms of where they can live.  

Once you have a project or two under your belt you can either renegotiate terms or go out on your own.

anyone have any experience with Walter Wofford and his short term rental education programs?

Most Heloc rates right now are around 7.75% to 10% so if you look at your blended rate between your fist and Heloc you would be better off doing a cash out refinance.A lot of people forget or simply do not know that if you do a cash out refinance the rate does go up but in 12 to 24 months if you do a "rate and term" refinance you can get it back down fairly close to where it was at prior.

Short term it is difficult to make the numbers work, the cost of new construction and the time it takes to zone-plan-build are usually the main reasons why private investors stay clear.

I've been buying SFH's out of state all cash as long term hold rentals.  

>Do the local laws allow short-term rentals for off-grid cabins?