Send me an email or a PM and we could chat more. 

Insurance also doesn’t protect you from misunderstandings, especially those made in writing and email.

For instance, he took out a $10K loan at a supply company for supplies on the house; however, he never paid them a dime (on NET 30 terms) throughout the project.

I shot you an email. 

Anything is writing or email / text from them?

If you email me, I'll share it with you. 

You want to make sure this person is responsive as there's a ton of agents that are horrible at returning calls/texts/emails. 

Rental demand is easy to track down and take a look at craigslist and talk to some management companies to find out supply demand metrics.

When you add in the ocean and southern border, the reality is you've got half the land supply options most other markets have.That's why RE is so expensive here and why it's likely to continue being so. 

Email is great also.