Good to see the city make some practical decisions.  

- What are some best practices we should keep in mind to keep maintenance cost of the ADU to the minimum in the long run?

I could be totally wrong, but I am just looking at it from a practical standpoint.

Networking is always a great practice and you never know who you might meet there and what good information they have to share.

Take the basic course requirements, complete the modules, and when its time to register for the state exam you can order a real estate exam question workbook from Amazon and use that to practice. 

Disclaimer: While I’m an attorney licensed to practice in PA, I’m not your attorney.

I also hope to build my network of lenders, contractors, etc.My highest priority currently is learning and practicing to identify and analyze properties.

I could lose my entire investment 400 times (and get 400 practice sessions in 400 days) for the price of the education, and if I couldn't learn the ropes well before I completed 400 deals in a single year, I'm not cut out for that business.

Smart guy with the most practical advice, some great books, and he started in California.

Most LLCs are set up for liability protection or similar non-tax reasons, and especially in CA, the penalties for "non authorized" practice of law are steep that a lot of CPAs will not even form the LLC for their clients.