I thought about doing flips, but it seems very risky, time-consuming, I'll have to pay capital gains taxes, and I know nothing about fixing properties or hiring contractors.

I would personally opt for option 5 if possible.

Fannie will actually back loans that are C5 or C6 (after C6 is teardown, C1 is new construction): "Properties with a Condition Rating of C6 are eligible for sale to Fannie Mae provided any deficiencies that impact the safety, soundness, or structural integrity of the property are repaired"As a consumer you would never know who those bottom feeder lenders are that would lend on a C5/6, since they have completely trash rates (better than non-qm and HML) and are slow (what would that commercial look like?

It would tell me how much electricity was consumed by Unit 1 during the month. 

Unfortunately, it's not possible to tell the difference between an insurance agent being whimsical on purpose, or making a genuine error, as a consumer (or mortgage broker, for that matter), but being 1/3 off makes it look like a genuine error to me if I were to place a bet.

It can be very time consuming and very expensive if you make mistakes.

Also, an LLC in CA is min $800 so its common to opt to get more insurance instead, higher liability plus an umbrella policy...a lot more affordable than you might think.Best of luck!

This is for investors, not personal consumers of real estate.  

In Brandon's book, it seems that rental property investing can be a very time-consuming process.

As for learning it is an A/B process: A- get into the Real Estate industry as a FT profession, be it as a realtor, a PM, assistant whatever just GET IN andB- Consume every learning and growing opportunity available for an extended period of time, become knowledgeable.