Background: bought my first deal 2 months ago as owner occupied duplex and have been turned off by the banks' restrictions, fees and regulations on buying strictly investment properties.

CA has very strict laws on these items and anyone caught demolishing anything containing specific amounts of lead or asbestos can and will be heavily fined for it.

Lots of things that you wouldn't think are "Securities" are by a strict application of the 1933 law, any Note (ie: loan) for example.

I would say to be strict on your tenant screenings.

Whether we like it or not, isn't the value of anything 1-4 units strictly based off of comps and appraisal?

He is a bit older, has a good job but we've had quite a few headaches since taking over the house.The biggest one is that we keep getting blight notices for him not taking care of the property in a pretty strict community.

As far as qualifying, many private/hard money loans do not have as strict guidelines as conventional mortgages. 

Personally, I sold ALL of my single-and-multifamily assets (400 or so units) and now am strictly involved in Self Storage. 

Do you plan to stick strictly with rentals?

I would contribute most of the success of my previous properties from me being very strict with my numbers, doing all the proper due diligence and finding value that can be added.