Good Morning,I am a former Claims Specialist with the Social Security Administration and currently unemployed homeowner who is looking for guidance on how to gain property management experience here in the Central Coast of California.My wife is the only one working at the moment, so times are tough to say the least.We're looking to rent out a portion of our home in order to save up enough money to purchase our second home (or multi-family unit), rent that out, and begin to expand our portfolio. 

Fred, something to look out for is if this depreciation clock resets with the new administration in office. 2025 it went to 40% but the benefit would obviously be much higher if it goes back up to 100%. 

For your first investment, it may not be worth the administrative headache to have an LLC. 

I have a good FT job in education administration, but I want to retire asap, focusing on RE (so, not really retiring, but you get the idea).

For the LTR outside CA, forming an LLC in the state where the property is located can reduce administrative costs and avoid double franchise taxes in California.

. - Inefficiency with payouts and administration will be compounded as the FAIR Plan has zero experience with a major pay out and lack infrastructure of assessors and technology to distribute the funds they don’t have.

I think a new administration brings new ideas and new people.

For larger buildings with financing, it's worth the administrative burden and the potential for higher churn, just for the sake of preserving occupancy. 

Commercial real estate is more likely to break and other changes with the new administration are likely to break things in ways that cannot be anticipated.

A good freind of mine set up an STR in a similarly lenient area and found that they could focus much more on guest experience rather than the administrative hassle.