Real estate generally appreciates based on location.

Hello @Daniel Windingstad,Live where you like but invest where you can make money.Out-of-state investing is often your best option if your goal is financial freedom through real estate, because the chances of living in a city that can support this goal are slim.

There are at least 3 or 4 people who have courses on it so it is a real thing.It is closer to STR that LTR because they are always furnished and can easily be converted to STR if you have a gap in bookings.

If the real property is in CA, you're definitely doing business in CA.Most likely the state where the property is located is where lawsuits would be brought if they are something for personal injury like a trip and fall or something of that nature because the “cause of action” arose in that state.

That said, there would be arguably no business purpose to bringing your family along with you, so even if you are spending the entire time searching for real estate.

We are over 20 experienced CPAs active in these forums, many of whom specialize in assisting real estate investors like yourself.

Lesson learned Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

My reason for this post is to hopefully find a mentor to work with to get me started on this adventure into the real estate world.

I'm interested in real estate in the Chicagoland area. 

Its like Fix and Flip loans/business purpose loans are now called "RTL's" real estate transition loans - same thing just different nameI know AAPL was trying to get away from the term "hard money" because for some it has a negative connotation but to me its all the same.