For the mostly passive San Diego RE investor, you will need to be patient to achieve worthy return.  

They were selling on pro forma, but the market and the debt market have shifted, and it's aa lot harder to achieve higher pricing with lower rents.We've purchased over 2,000 units, and the simple answer to the question is that they are either mom and pops and run their businesses with ZERO KPIs, they do not want to risk losing tenants if they raise rents, and they don't treat their asset as a business.When you take over, it can be difficult to get rents to market if they are very suppressed.

As you delve deeper into the world of real estate, staying informed and adaptable will be key to achieving your financial goals.

Additionally, do you have any other ideas or strategies that might help achieve his goals without incurring a tax liability?

Hopefully, this is a useful example of what’s achievable with out-of-state investing, even with no local connections. 

Achieving a great cashflowing property, learning the process while executing, and great satisfaction of helping a family.

When i look back it's pretty easy to see what let us achieve this milestone. 1) Delayed gratification.

This reminds me of how Alex Hormozie describes "the value equation"; Experience in this case is the factor that determines the likelihood of achievement. 1,000%Alex Hormozie is one of the greatest marketers not just alive, but ever. 

Very difficult to be successful with this program when buying in these lower tier markets unless you are hands on as you say and yes, scale is necessary to achieve efficiencies.

.- Have attorney draw up a contract to do this.Suggest you offer your dad some cash, now or in the near future, to motivate him to transfer his ownership to you.It may not work out, but you will learn a lot either way!