In my case, I wasn’t sure my land qualified because it was essentially my back yard, but because it was always a separate lot from my house, I was able to still do it because raw land without improvements on it is always considered investment property.

Ok, so maybe I am not getting it but I have a hot water boiler with separate zones for each unit.

Hey @Ana Mills, I also agree with separate accounts for each STR you have.

Condo convert this so you will separate the property into 2 APN's thereby, somewhat, making it exempt from rent control  if done strategically. 

Finalizing a few things now but couldn’t i just use the one ipostal address for all instead of separate accounts / addresses?   

Do you have a a separate rainy day fund for each property or just one fund that you pull out for whatever property it is needed for? 

Hi Radhika-Congratulations on being a homemaker with young kids and looking to do more for the family financially now that the kids are older.You have 50K to get started but are having difficulty choosing markets and deciding where to begin and you are thinking about single-family long-term rentals out of state because you live in California.I would encourage you to start with duplexes, preferably with 2 bedrooms in each unit for tenant longevity, and ideally with separate utilities.

We do NOT have a separate LLC for it. 

—as long as it’s not to a retirement plan—the lender will almost certainly require a separate guarantee.

Seems like an overkill and all you need is an insurance policy as any good attorneys first question will be "how much did the LLC who is to be separate from you pay for the property" - when the answer is zero and it was gifted. the next question will be do you gift properties to others as well?