If the LLC and its income are entirely outside California, it typically does not require registration with the California Secretary of State (SOS) or payment of California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) fees, even if you reside in California.

This attorney should handle creation of your PPM and state filing requirements, but they do not handle the PSA or closing. 

If you have equity and decent credit, a conventional Fannie Mae HomeStyle (or the Freddie Mac version) would likely be the better option instead of an FHA 203k loan (which will require a 3rd party HUD consultant to oversee the deal in addition to having the contractor involved). 

The vast majority of properties at their available prices will not meet this requirement.  

The real prohibitive costs come from the legal, compliance, and reporting requirements of registering a security.

A partnership requires three things to be successful - Experience, Capital and Time.It looks like you have the capital and experience but maybe not the time.I have my doubts about this working if you have a friend who has weak credit and a limited cash flow.

Purchase price: $130,000 Cash invested: $9,000 Sale price: $185,000 I did not have the knowledge then to keep the property and pull money out to complete renovations to another property we purchased a year after this one that required a complete overhaul.

I understand this is not a requirement, but I have never received a damaged unit from an inherited tenant or any legal issues.

It's a more involved discussion that requires one on one communication and no, joining a "community" does not prepare you.

But after working with the family, we purchased it for $42,000 and got to work.We had some unique challenges, like dealing with one of the heirs who wasn’t very cooperative and required a payoff to sign the paperwork we needed for clear title.