Longer leases benefit the tenant more than the landlord.With month-to-month, you have more flexibility in how/when you can change the terms of the tenancy and/or increase the rent.

Costs more than conventional, but faster close, more flexibility and usually higher leverage.

I work full time (6am - 3:30pm est), but I have a lot of flexibility and free time during the day as well as nights and weekend.

This property being purchased is very old (130+ years) , and its understood that this thing will need a lot of repairs in its first year of new ownership to maintin this thing..The biggest question is after setting up the above scenario with a Land trust and LLC is A: thinking it would be more tax advantageous to claim all of these repair expenses to the LLC rather then in their own name (correct me if I'm wrong on that) B:want to learn the ropes of owning and operating an LLC, seperating all bank accounts, for future growth of not only aquiring more rental real estate but also possibly transitioning to full time running the LLC as well as starting others (a transition away from my 9-5 as a way to have a more flexible schedule for my children and family) .Is this a possibility or is the entire idea of operating an LLC which is create off an asset owned in and trust not possible?

Are there some strategies to buy maybe stocks/securities/gold/widgets/etc. to reduce taxable income, yet be flexible enough to sell quickly if a need for cash arises?

Sellers are more flexible during the repair negotiation because they don't know if they have the line of buyers they're used to.

Sharing some context below followed by a question that has me stumped.Context:Pre-Approved for 550k (Owner Financing)Work has gone full remote so location is flexible I'm working towards the buy/hold strategy... goal is to move every 1-3 years and build up my portfolioInterviewed 3-4 agents in LA county and I currently have my eyes set on Long Beach & North OCThe main reason I've focused on Long Beach & North OC thus far is due to familiarity.

Moving forward down the road perhaps a few years or so I will want the flexibility of something self directed.

In the first case, they are trying to bring income in, and in the second case, they are ready to make loans.There are lenders in your area, probably the smaller local lenders, or even regional lenders, who will be more flexible than most of the others (bigger banks). 

If you can only get it for 65% of ARV, then you're not meeting his terms and it's probably not a good deal (depending on his flexibility).