Keep in mind, taxes and insurance costs in California are higher than a lot of areas.

Does your end buyer often cover the closing costs and attorney's fee or is this something you take out of your profit on the deal?

I have personally not worked on any of these but it does not seem to be anything too crazy.It's an FHA Loan that can be combined with other FHA products like a 203k.I am a Loan Officer for "Correspondent Lender" so I can operate under the rules of over 100 lenders...I would be able to place this in a few hours with 1 email...We would just have to make sure all the boxes are checked...Energy Efficient Improvements Must Be Cost-EffectiveThe financed portion of an Energy Package must be cost-effective.

One area that has caught my attention is the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg TN area - seems like there is a good rental income to acquisition cost ratio.  

The negative is that the title ins can cost 3-4x or more than what traditional title ins will cost.

so - what are the ages of those items, how much will they cost to replace, and how long will they last? 

@Yu Xiao, using that property as a short term rental during the time you own it will open up some additional tax saving potential as will doing a cost segregation study to take advantage of some accelerated depreciation.  

As someone else mentioned I think that Househacking a multi family is your best bet and the recommendation I give to everyone looking to get started or even someone looking to buy their first home.House hack is the easiest barrier to entry becasue your cost for downpayment can be as little as 3.5% FHA or 5% conventional, and you usually get the best rates as a primary residence borrower. 

You can, but you will only have 1/3 of the total cost segregation benefits, and only for one year.Read this: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1122635-the-s... 

Plus, when done correctly, you as the KP can capture the ALL the Fed investment Tax Credits (ITC) plus the  State, MARCS, and Cost Seg Depreciation to massively offset your High W2 / 1099 Income - I wrote a book specifically for people like you and your wife to address your concerns.