Why would you ignore that while putting all your eggs in one basket.I would put $100K down on a 2-4 plex, $100K into 3% CDs and gold stocks to weather this trade war storm (2018), and put the last $100K into my own business as a LLC that could be used in Year 3 to play in commercial real estate (5 units or more).In the mean time shoot for a 80+ business score and 720+ personal credit score while seeing if we're heading into a recession.

I like that play the best personally.Unless you make an offer on the note that is just too good to be true or a screaming deal.. then you can do all the work it takes in that state.. it was an eye opener for me to do the one I did and it quite the process ..

Brush up on what you learned while playing politics while running for middle school class president, get on the HOA board, and fix it.

Obviously there are several issues at play here, as not everything is a true apples-to-apples comparison and it's quite possible that many of these units are rented to family or long term renters, but the discrepancies are off by often $700-1200/mo. 

I understand the California markets are generally considered appreciation plays whereas the out of state markets can offer better cash flow; I'm still trying to figure out what works best for my situation. 

In these type of situations it’s best to play by their rules and make an offer you are comfortable with and not change it when they come back asking for more or telling you they have multiple offers.

I would imagine there must be demand for luxury apartments for them to build them. 

Making LLC creation MOOT get an umbrella policy. save the money and hassle of LLC and revisit at 10 units. unless you just want to 'play business owner', which lots of people do.

I assume this is a question you asked the previous landlord/manager for an application.I've never had anyone say they can't comment, but they usually play it pretty close to the vest and will say something like "they are in good standing."

If you want to play the negotiation game do as Franco suggests.