Hi Said.I am new to BP as well (this is my first post) and moved to West Orange, NJ, about 9 months ago.

I live in Orange County California where the property values are so high and the laws favor the renter.

If you check her profile, and in my humble opinion, its like comparing apples and oranges.

as @Dorene Mangels-Bacalhau mentioned, if you are doing anything structural the building department will want an engineers stamp on the plans whether an architect draws them or not. where I live the lumber yard where I buy my materials provides that for free in house to contractors who they do business with. they do this because it's good business, they do the math and I buy from them. also they are much cheaper than the big box stores and actually have a clue which I've never seen at the big orange store.

For instance, I own property in West Orange.

If you're on the old site, click the link at the top orange bar and you can start using it today or go to http://beta.biggerpockets.comWe've got a bunch of tutorials coming our shortly.If you guys have questions, please feel free to ask, otherwise we encourage you to play around.  

I am also from CA (Orange County) and work for a big GC.

I'm hoping to find a successful house hack somewhere in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas with my commute being to Anaheim.

@Robert Chaing Read this page from the Orange County Ca tax assessors office.  

These are the counties/townships:If you live or work in the following counties you are eligible to join Crane Credit Union: Bartholomew, Brown, Clay, Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Greene, Hendricks, Jackson, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Marion (Center, Decatur, Franklin, Lawrence, Perry, Pike, Washington, and Wayne townships), Martin, Monroe, Morgan, Owen, Orange, Parke, Pike, Posey, Putnam, Sullivan, Vanderburgh, Vermillion, Vigo, and Warrick.