Although the study may increase the gain, the gain may be taxed at a much lower rate making it a beneficial investment.If a property is purchased with the intention to flip or own for a short period of time (less than 3 years), a cost segregation study may not be significant.Overall, as long as you intend to hold the investment property for greater than a year, the benefits of a cost segregation study should be considered.

Thus, my main goal joining this forum is to try to gain confidence in the decision to get into real estate investment and better understand the risks that I may not be considering due to my lack of experience in the field.

Both @Nathan Gesner and @Lauren Stark have provided valuable insights on this.One potential path for you is to join an established team to gain experience.

The rates vary throughout the State because of the different millage rates and tax districts, but in Richland County for instance, the taxes essentially triple once it goes from legal resident to non legal residence. 

I used to cold call, skip trace, send mailers, and don't get me wrong you will get success from it like James above, however as you gain experience you will realize you need deals faster, easier, cheaper, and with more "meat on the bones" and in order to have that you need constant deals flowing through your eco system and that's hard to do with mailers, cold calls, VA's and skip tracing etc.

Our firm is planning on starting a Portal (legal term) next year on our roadmap because with $5M as the new threshold this really can move the needle for certain projects and sponsors.  

Registering as a foreign LLC allows you to maintain continuity with your existing business structure, branding, and EIN while operating legally in the new state.

I learned so much along the way, including navigating the legal process needed to remove previous owners (squatters) who did not want to leave.

What is the legal mechanism?

What would you save in captial gains on the $360k if you sold now?