So prime farmland with an existing annual lease will fetch a higher valuation than, say, a recently cut-over timber tract with a poor soil class.

I’ve found that some will have the letter sit on their desk for 6 months before they call me and can never say a reason why someone will sell so I don’t want to filter those out.

@Tyler Henfling When you say a cash reserve, do you mean you set aside a portion of the rent each month for repairs and capex?

So setting up, let's say, a Delaware LLC, when you live in CA, probably won't get around the CA LLC tax unless you argued to CA that you run your business our of DE and pay DE taxes.

I do not personally know Stuart, but I've found his posts to be well thought out and honest (even though I have disagreed with a couple of them :-)Here's my take on your post - you say  "As an experienced contractor of three years".....seriously?

@Max Lichtenstein, contrary to what others may say, a house hack that breaks even or is cash flow negative can still be a good deal.

I will say a lot of these markets to include the 2 you mentioned, have a lot of areas where its a street by street price difference so make sure you have good boots on the ground.

I'd say a great first step even before analyzing deals is to connect with someone who is in an area you're interested in and ask to team up with them. 

Ill maybe get some quotes and see what they say as far as % goes, this old lady always gets judgements too I think because Ive brought her to the courthouse at times.

MAYBE, if you lived nowhere near the property and it took a reasonable amount of time, say a week, maybe two, you could write off the cost of getting there, supplies and such.