The use of the accelerated depreciation strategy helps real estate investors to reduce the tax liability immediately which therefore increases their bottom line due to the offsetting of income.

Leverage your construction skills for flips, start with smaller projects to minimize risk, and consider house hacking or long-term rentals for a steady income.

The liability coverage is way better, the building coverage is often better, and commercial policies typically cover loss of business income as well, which a homeowners policy isn't going to help you with.California + wildfire area + STR is super tough. 

I'm not sure what market you are in but for me MKE was a cash flow market which is the type of RE I was most interested in as replacing my 9-5 income was top priority.

I'm confused why would you say that rental income is taxed in an IRA?

If the market is strong, holding could lead to future gains, especially with depreciation deductions offsetting rental income.

After years of focusing on my career and building financial stability, I’m ready to dive into real estate investing and start creating passive income and long-term wealth.My short-term goal is to purchase my first duplex or single family rental. 

in my experience doing this in Vegas - the gross rental income is about 50% higher. 

As a savings of a few thousand dollars on furniture, could determine if your occupancy rate is 65% versus 70%...If the revenue is $50,000/yr that's $2,500 in one year (which could be the breakeven for that specific line-item expense).To determine you total breakeven point occupancy rate, and not just related to the furniture, take your operating expenses plus your debt service and divide it by your effective gross income.

@Marc Zak Using an LLC for each property provides strong liability protection by isolating risks to individual assets, with income and expenses flowing through to your personal taxes on Schedule E.