CA is brutal when it comes to taxes.I don't give tax or legal advice, but many people believe that holding the property in your name and having a good umbrella policy is a good solution.

Let’s connect to explore the best solutions tailored to your needs!

There are hundreds of hard money lenders out there, ultimately I'd work with someone who has time to focus on ensuring you get a tailored mortgage instead of a cookie cutter solution.

Many successful investors started small, such as with house hacking or buying affordable properties to rent out.

If you have a few single family rental homes and are looking for a way to streamline leases, applications and rents, maybe rentredi is the right solution, but if you have a multi unit property or any serious management needs, look elsewhere. 

This is the heart of the reason housing isn't mroe affordable, that landlords bear these types of costs every day.You could probably find cheaper labor, especially to haul away the junk, but not easily as an out of state investor. 

You may have to search a bit for the right contractor or engineer - sometimes I see one solution dominating in an area - "that is how we always do it" 

Amazon has an amazing selection of affordable covers and you can search by color/pattern.

I'm all about finding problems to solutions and figuring out how to make something work rather than simply conceding that it cannot work.

Offer to buy them a few indoor portable heaters until you find a solution.