That said, I'd imagine that at the right price and with the right insurance, some of those properties could work out long term for some investors?

For #5, note that there are nowadays "tech startup" solutions to financing one's primary residence (see Unison and Point.com), but the money comes from private institutions or private sources--the money is not "crowdfunded" for many reasons--in part, because there are a lot of strange privacy issues (imagine if your home was partially owned by 50 other people.

I can't imagine working real estate part time.

Tenants are crammed into apartment units, so it is quite difficult to imagine that rents can go much higher, and certainly not on the rent controlled buildings.    

We have a heat wave going in SoCal so I imagine this could cause the ants to appear and I've also heard that the dead termites serve as a food source for the ants and I'm sure we have lots of dead termites.

John, I would like to pour water on your argument...as a licensed agent your job is to represent and get the best deal for your client whether you buyers or sellers agent. 

Get a big one with a wand, pour the water in as hot as possible without melting the container, and use pressure.

It's finally ready and it ended up being even better than I had imagined.

I could go on and on telling you the things you will need, but I will sum it up this way.THE POWER OF QUICKBOOKS will do all of the above and more than you can ever imagine.  

I totally understand why you wouldn't want to pour (repair amount) into a home that you're just going to move out of anyways."