@AJ SantiagoYes typically need to do California fair plan.

Populations in the 300-500K range are generally a good sweet spot.Roll multiple smaller cities/towns up into one larger “target market” if you need to Reasonable Property PricesStaying at or slightly below median market value increases your odds of success since there are more buyers/sellersHigher price points can be very lucrative but typically require more time/money for marketingGrowing or Stable EconomyTarget market should have positive economic growth expectations.

Does anyone have an example of a loan proposal or what should be on it.

For example, if they're going to be able to cover 75% of the entire value of the next property, they should have a much easier time getting approved for the remaining 25%... depending on what kind of asset the new property is.

For example, is it standard to ask for first and last month's rent upfront?

an example might be a 3 story brick building that could be replaced with a 3 story frame construction building at a lower building cost but still provide the same function.You should be revising the values based on the way your policy is written above. 

Just don't get stuck with lots of fees typically associated with 401k's mutual funds and some insurance products.

For example, I have been informed from a couple of banks that even though my current Airbnb totally offsets the mortgage, they will not take the income from the property towards the DTI calculations but rather take the gross income from the Taxes filed and consider the mortgage amount as an expense, which was hard to understand.

Aside from your typical items like budget and area, I am looking for something in a good school district, and a moderate size in terms of bed/bath room count, as well as area.

For example, if I'm pursuing a highly distressed vacant property and I have a data set that shows me the owner is deceased or 97 years old I know immediately the owner is either deceased or likely deceased and the databases just aren't showing it yet (by law, they have to wait a certain amount of time to post death record) and that I need to zero in on the relatives and associates.