Given that I'm looking to buy a home to live in anyway, and the mortgage on a single family home (or a condo with HOA fees) seems only just barely in reach and unnecessarily expensive, do you think there's still value in buying a place in LA if I can find something that's roughly zero cash flow—excluding tax benefits, and assuming I'm paying $1,500-$1,800 in "rent" for my unit in the building?

There is so much to learn and will just try to ingest as much as I can comprehend, and then seek advice of people like yourselves who have the blueprints.

I was unnecessarily and not very clearly drawing a distinction between 1-4 unit Single Family Dwelling vs. 5+unit "multi-family" financing.  

Hi Aaron, Greeting from Golden, CO.Your gut is correct, don't refinance your house unnecessarily. 

Spending money unnecessarily will only turn a great cash flow property into a so so cash flow property.

Yes, thank you, I was doing several deals and added these unnecessarily. 3.

Has anyone figured out how to vote a post down...maybe give some sheep awards for unnecessarily giving kudos...anyway...it's all relative.

Some from unnecessary dining rooms, Others from living rooms that are unnecessarily large.

Is there any product out there that can ingest receipts and lookup item codes to itemize them? 

Due to the size of the company I worry that they will be unnecessarily expensive because we are just starting out.