As an RE agent in LA I was looking at a place for myself to buy as an str and was very disappointed with the lack of ability to buy there anymore.

My concern with LA is that it would be difficult to find a property that works given the high prices and I'm not sure if I would take advantage of FHA loans because of it's high mortgage insurance cost.On the other hand, I had initially thought to invest out of state by myself in a much more affordable home and rent out the place through a property manager.

Originally posted by @Lais Lima:@Charlie DiLisio can you explain how to got to $200k in personal credit?

You are allowed to buy the tenant out either ‘cash 4 keys’ or pay them the city relocation fee which is pretty high and can be found here:  https://housing.lacity.org/wp-...Whatever you do, don’t irritate the tenant because under the LA rules, you still cannot evict a tenant for non-payment of rent.You don’t want a situation where a tenant decides they no longer want to pay rent.Unfortunately, LA is a different beast and rent control in this area follows different guidelines. 

@Rich Hupper  As @Ray Lai mentioned, try a site like Intelius to find other relatives.

The city of LA is setting up proposals to start the Bank of LA to handle this banking front.

I heard LA is tough and not landlord friendly.

For example LA is having a "come-to-Jesus" moment over the homeless issue, and parts of Chicago with the rampant crime, and on other side of that coin there is parts in TX and FL that have a unique force factor in play pressing greater than average appreciation. 

LA is not the conservative mid west.. 

Hello @Kofi Quaye,The website that I use for the property taxes is the same one that @David Cochran mentioned (http://avicalculator.phila.gov/).