Apparently not, and found out I needed to give myself a W-2, which involves payroll, which involves paying withholding qtrly, which I didn't know I was supposed to do (again, thinking I could do this at the end of the year).

Likely, with an LLC there is no payroll to keep sinse there are no employees?

However, had the bird dog guy checked a little further he would have seen that taxes were very much current, a recent transfer deed to a sophisticated developer's LLC and that the 10 acre parcel was located directly across from Nordstrom and several high rise buildings.

I can tell you that many large and sophisticated investors look to appreciation, but that doesn't mean they are speculating.

How easy those are depends on the sophistication of the County databases.

But my card for sellers is simple, less sophisticated and straight to the point.

Contract states that due diligence does not begin until I have given my written notification that I have received all requested documents.During due diligence I request the following documentation:P&L Statements.Seller's Tax Returns and Bank DepositsLease agreements and rental receiptsCopy of current management contract and payroll registerCopy of insurance policyCopies of service and advertisement contracts (Trash, Water, Util, etc)Confirm any existing liens.WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO GET TAX RATES, SINCE THEY MAY CHANGE AFTER THE SALE?

Their clients don't seem to be sophisticated (or accredited) investors.

Payroll, bookkeeping, etc can mostly be done remotely.Here is a great list of questions to ask a potential accountant:http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/70447-questions-to-ask-a-cpaAlso check out the www.NAEA.org page in your search.

Getting into a buy and hold with only $25k could be a problem too in CA, so you would have to venture into the desert cities combined with leverage or go out of state.Investing in a syndication may be tough because you would not be an accredited or sophisticated investor, potentially making you ineligible.I would learn what I could on rehab flipping and/or wholesaling, use that $25k as your skin in the game (after you get fully educated on how to) and build more capital from there.