Out of curiosity, what’s one piece of advice you’d give someone just starting out?

I mean it's CA for heaven sake :)   By the way our most recent couch purchase was a lovely piece of furniture built by the Amish. https://ssc.ca.gov/forms_pubs/hog/Are you saying the earthquake stuff is the reasoning for the timber construction vs masonry? 

However if you try to charge $20 for each piece of tape or something else egregious I would expect a magistrate to consider that usurious and not allow it.

I utilize a PO Box as well.It wouldn't be hard for our tenants to find out where we live (tax assessor's online tool) ~ But for $50/yearly ... it gives me a bit more piece of mind :)

Have a Licensed Plumber inspect the property after you own the house and you will have your piece of mind.Are there signs of a leak that came up in the Home Inspection?

The Surveyor was surveying the wrong piece of ground.

They know that a STR brings more $$$ than a LTR would so they want a piece of that pie.

@Will Jones, we are in the process of putting an offer on a piece of land in where we will build a building for one of my businesses and then lease out the rest of the space.  

Ditch the cheap shower surroundPlease don’t buy that cheap five-piece shower surround that you saw at Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Next piece of advice is shop this deal around with someone through the forums or local real estate groups (google for your area).