We wanted to stop wasting money on rent and get into real estate investing.

Wait on the survey until a contract as buyers may want to combine tracts and you wasted money surveying. 

Even with a basement the walls can be cracked, bowing in, shows signs of water in the basement. 

I updated the kitchen with new tile, cabinets, countertops, appliances and did a wall cutout.

First guest:  In my pool house, I now have pink speckles decorating the walls and ceiling of the kids' bedroom, walls in the rest of the house and the exterior wall near the pool. 

Upon further research this la also has an exemption clause for owners who meet the following criteria:Criteria:1) The house must have less than 4 Dwellings'2) Two or more exterior walls not adjoined to any other property'3) If the house is 3 units, one must be occupied by the owner.Can anyone share their experience in applying for exemption from this rule?

I want to clarify that fixing up the house and updating the floor plan will be fairly cheap since I'm doing it within the envelope and I'm not moving any load-bearing beams/walls.

Replaced the furnace for a high efficiency one, ran CAT6 networking to all rooms, enlarged and replaced 4 of the basement windows, replaced the suspended ceiling for drywall, installed 11 (yes 11) interconnected smoke alarms and sprinkler in mechanical rooms, repainted basement walls, replaced one of the rooms flooring, added gravel to the 3 parking stalls (currently was dirt).

Someone, eventually will see the writing on the wall and bite and before you know they probably all will. 

Don't forget, a lot of contracting is guessing until you open up the wall/floor/roof and physically see the damage.