If you want to find people who will try to help you lose your money, telling them how much money you have and where you will be is a good way to start.You are limiting yourself way too much by focusing on LA, but with $2 million to burn you could likely find some good cash flow if you are paying cash, but you don't sound like the management type just from this.

He kept avoiding our requests and said we should claim it in our 2023 taxes instead… The last straw for us was when he tried to charge us another $7.5k to file our taxes which obviously ended our relationship instantly.

But I also agree that there are some things you might want to pay to have someone else do so you don't end up burning yourself out.I've been doing this 9 years now?  

Instant cash flow investing as we have seen it in the 2010 years has been a historic anomalie.

You're getting OJT right now, but you're about to get burned very badly in a very tenant friendly environment if you don't get the help you need WHILE you're learning.

If you put $250k into stocks and when the stocks appreciate 50%, your equity increases by 50% minus taxes.1031 exchange: You can sell one income property, buy a replacement income property, and defer capital gains taxes.In many cases, depreciation alone will reduce or eliminate taxes on your rental income.Real Estate DisadvantagesLiquidity: There is no way to convert real estate to cash instantly like you can with stocks.Higher entry price point: You can buy stocks for a$5 or less.

He got burned in that particular market as he said tenants were intentionally breaking things & abusing the system so as to get out of paying any rent.

Granted the updated price has yet to sink in as those prices change on a second by second basis, but basically its how the stock market works just in real estate its not instant.

If you search these forums you will find countless syndication investors burned by paused redemptions, loss of most or all of their principal, investment promoters disappearing, etc.