You are wise to limit your scope to a particular type of company.I have been in the industry for the past two decades, and from my years in the business, I can recommend a couple of other companies outside of my family. 

Depends who you ask and how secure you feel about your income On the one hand being debt free is great, but leverage allows us to build our wealth quicker.RE investors are notorious for being cash poor, so I would avoid thatIf youre able to comfortably save 100k a year and have enough reserves, I think buying leveraged properties is the best way to scale.You could kill two birds with one stone theoreticallyThey say paying an extra month a year towards principal saves you 7 years on a 30 year fixed mortgageUsing that logic you can add 2+ months a year on your primary, and buy 1 property a year and keep enough reserves. 

My question is can I purchase this property, renovate the top two units and just leave the basement as is?

I currently hold two jobs in LA and was hoping to manage the property remotely.

The two things that are required which are really hard for most investors--patience and accessible funds.Usually,  they lack the latter because of the former. 

I purchased my first two multi-unit properties using data and they've doubled in value in 5 years simply because my metric was population growth and movement. 3.

My garage is a two car garage.

What you have described is essentially what I would love to accomplish in the next two years.

I highlighted two common exceptions in my earlier post, but doesn't sound like either scenario applies to your case. 

There is no 100% guarantee out there.Managing your property properly and having great insurance are probably the two best ways to protect yourself.