I'm currently searching for my first SFR.

I am searching for buy and hold properties, SFH or MFH up to 4 units.

Hello BP people,I am Brad Jenkins, and I found the BP world through the podcasts while searching for real estate podcasts. 

Constitution provides that "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

As we celebrated the birth of our first born, and I worked from home, the walls closed in – so we went in search of a larger home and decided to rent it (we got just enough to cover the mortgage, but the taxes went up and before long, the difference was $100+/-month) …..and we took the first tenants who showed interest with $ in hand….which, unfortunately, were college students (The largest school in the nation , UCF, is 10 min away).

You can do it as an intermediate step while searching for your next property.

After doing a very comprehensive search through various LA neighborhoods for both turnkey & fixer-uppers, going from Inglewood/Hawthorne to NoHo to East LA (Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, etc.), I've realized it's incredibly difficult to find qualified investments.

to see what things are selling for and how long they've been listed and how much inventory is in a given area.Option 2:  Find a real estate agent in your market that can provide all that info to you in a nicely formatted report.Option 3: This is what I do although it is much more manual but it forces me to become very very familiar with the data vs. having it provided to me by someone else.I have 4 MLS searches set up in my area, through my realtor, for each property type I buy (SF, Townhome, MF, etc).

As you have planned, as you start accumulating more and more equity, it would be a good idea to get an LLC and properly manage the LLC to get the desired protection.

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but after searching the forums, I'm not sure I see a direct comparison.I owe about $69k on a property that is worth about $120k.