Personally CA scares me. 

I personally have no connections with anyone who is involved in this niche and I'm wondering how other people have started their journey.

Not sure if they have upgraded to desktop appraisals but if they are still doing in person appraisals , make sure you get everything (scope of work, good faith deposit, social, LLC docs, insurance, proof of prior experience, financial statements) in ASAP.

A more realistic expectation is 24 hours which will ensure we can arrange any repairs or corrections with a team, handle it in person, etc. be curious how this plays out as I worked for local developer for a while and developed several properties in Alexandria (Specifically old town) and while the city is challenging like any city - they were mostly realistic.

My wife and I have overhauled our personal budget to reflect the 'pay yourself first' approach (allocate in order: income comes in -> invest -> donate -> fixed expenses -> variable expenses -> fun $$).We are looking to see what experienced people generally recommend for a holding tank for that 'invest' allocation while we target our first real estate deal.What financial vehicles have you guys used that works well for this?

Keep in mind that DSCR loans are how most investors have scaled. whether its residential DSCR or commercial DSCR at 5+ units. personally, i like them better. few reasons why:1. seasoning period is only like 10-30 days vs 60days going conventional2. seller max contributions DSCR is 3-6% where conventional its only 2% max3.

I heard that if you move the personal mortgages to an LLC they could get called and we would want to avoid that3.

No Personal Use: You or family members cannot live in or personally use the property.2.

The challenge was balancing the relationship between landlord/tenant and a personal/friendly relationship.

Do you own these properties in your personal name or through an LLC?