If you're brand new to this industry, I suggest taking time to 1) educate yourself about the different aspects of real estate investing (which I am still doing) and 2) begin networking and connecting with people on here.  

My question is whether or not this is a good project to start out in this industry.  

I have been in the industry for 6 years, so I know a lot about lawns.

I hope I will learn a lot here and meet new people/friends.As a recent transplant to Southern California, from New Jersey, I work in the IT industry currently and am doing some (really basic) real estate investing on the side.

Unfortunately this is uncharted territory for some real estate investors, and for this reason, loan scams are quite common in the financial services industry.

Considering how cheap umbrella policies are I think that makes sense.Finally no one is advocating not getting an umbrella policy as a minimum, this isn't mutually exclusive to a LLC, everyone should have a umbrella policy as a minimum and some people, with assets to protect, also should have a LLC. 

The New Bureau of Real Estate and Its Enforcement, over 150 real estate licensees and real estate attorneys gathered on Monday to hear the new California Bureau of Real Estate (CalBRE) Commissioner speak about his current agenda.INDIVIDUALS PRACTICING REAL ESTATE WITHOUT A LICENSE MAY RECEIVE CRIMINAL CHARGESCommissioner Bell emphasized that his goal is to promote a fair, competent, and law-abiding real estate industry in California.

(I'm doing all 3 because I really feel that investing in education is the best investment in any industry).  

There are shady piles of dung out there, in any industry.  

I finance my flips with a hard money lender that specializes in the rehab fix and flip space exclusively.