I am saving money too.

@Seham Afaghani There's sooooooo much research and learning to do out there- Let me save you a bunch of time that I had wasted over 2 years ago and recommend you get your mind off of rental properties in Sacramento.

Also post Facebook marketplace, craigslist, Facebook yard sale, community websites, Nextdoor Write up a canned reply to zillow / email leads and save it on your phone and computer.

Initial CapEx Funding at property closing: At closing, as part of my 'cash needed to close' calculation, I take 3% of the sales price and set it aside in a separate CapEx savings account.  

@Rob Gervais  Getting some 3D Renderings and basic floor plans with details could help communicate your thoughts to the GC which would ultimately save you money and also could help you get through the permit process.  

Millions of people lost their life savings.

What I do is offfer my angry tennants the opportunity to get into real estate investing, offer them work in maintaining properties, collecting rents, and offer guidance on them being able to buy their first place of their own.Don't you think they would love to have at minimum two jobs to be able to save up the money , work their ends off to build up their credit, hunt down deals, and negotiate a purchase, invest their money knowing there is no guarantee of ever getting your money out of it or of profiting, have to spend thousands of dollars or 10's of thousands of dollars, even hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to be a ble to provide others with housing?

Just starting out - unless you have a deep pockets W-2 job, substantial savings, or Wife / Significant other with significant income from my experience, it will be tough. 1.

Do your current expenses include saving for repairs, maintenance, capex, etc.? 

I know very little about commercial space but have a good commercial property resource.3) Use private money and leverage my flexible schedule to manage deals.4) Go into saving mode until I have enough money saved to continue deals.Anything I'm missing here or any recommendations from someone who has made this transition?