Of course, with all things, the answers to all these matters will depend on the circumstances.California tends to have more laws on the books and requirements and restrictions that it can be a good idea to form a CA LLC for out of state property so that you as a CA resident are covered, and to try to have your contracts fall under the purview of CA courts.

I have a few questions that may seem silly1) If I purchase an apartment complex in cash and form a new LLC, can I still use the old LLCs tax returns to leverage the equity in the property?

The fact that paid information has a higher success rate than free information does not form a basis to say that paid information is better or more effective than free information.

When I pay someone to do it my profits go down.Trust - Talking about paying someone. is really hard to find someone hardworking and trustworthy and even the best are probably not as good as you(vested interests)Local government - yeah, they can be a pain in the ***...I don't see using real estate as a form a diversification as wrong, but I also understand why people like it and are willing to invest all of their time, effort and money investing in it.  

Please share reading material , getting started guides or books that might help.I am currently based out of the San Francisco Bay area and I am looking to invest within a 2-3 hour driving range.RegardsYour main goal is to understand the market (demographics, traffic volumes et cetra) and understand what makes a good deal (look at what has actually sold and at what price combined with building out a pro formas to understand it).  

You're going to weigh the pro-forma versus buying government debt, private debt or heck a BDC, not necessarily against buying land.

We did not get an EIN since the plan was to form a joint LLC at the end of project completion.

I've found every investor treats those costs differently in their pro forma, but this gives you the idea.

Asking $620k Debt service $4,352/m (10% Interest, 30-year amortization, 80% LTV) Taxes ($1033/m), insurance ($833/m), maintenance($1000/m), property management ($2400/m)Total - $9,613 (very rough estimate) Cashflow with 70% occupancy - $2,387/m (Cash flow pro-forma with adjustments $7,000/m+)What am I missing? 

This is very clear on the pro forma breakdowns on the website.