I like to find owner finance deals and just finance the down payment for as many years as I can for cash flow.

If you find an actual property that looks like a homerun and would warrant a HELOC, then you can go for it without reservation.

This is part of the impetus to get started now that plus likely qualifying for financing easier with my current income. 

Glad to have you as a part of this awesome community, Simon! 

We’re currently using it for multi-family properties in a few core markets.While redIQ is a much more sophisticated tool that focuses on properties with over 50 units, our system is perfect for properties up to 50 units, providing an efficient solution for managing lead intake and financial analysis without the complexity of larger systems.Here’s how it works:Lead Intake & Processing: Automatically processes broker emails and key documents (OMs, Rent Rolls, T12s, etc.).Quick Review: Evaluates leads based on key metrics like IRR, price per unit, and more.Detailed Analysis: Extracts data from documents, evaluates financials, and identifies additional income sources.Market Research Integration: Automates checks on flood zones, demographics, school quality, etc.Deal Tracking: Uses Google Sheets to visually organize lead data—while not a full database system, it provides a simple and efficient way to store and track deals without the need for a full-fledged database like MongoDB.Financial Analysis: Built-in underwriting and financial modeling with automated reports.In addition to ZCG, I also own a portfolio of properties.

I'm wondering if you can help advise on this situation.My mother currently resides in a property located in Los Angeles County.

Hey Aaron, have you considered a commercial mortgage from a local bank like First National or Bangor Savings Bank? 

I do not like the web site as much as I liked the app. 

You likely only made a down payment of 3-20% ....but you still get to write it off on the full value across 27.5 years.So 400k/27.5 = 14,000 ish a year of a write off where during the year you didn't need to incur an actual expense, no cash outflow. 

This will affect things like required down payment, rates, and even which lending institutions would be willing to finance. i encourage you to look up warrantability for financing just so that you don't have surprisses when your 20% down buyer cannot finance that way.