I have taken decisive action to learn all that I can during the rebuilding process to help strengthen my investment muscles. 

One good thing that EVERY licensed contractor in CA has is that they have a "contractor's bond" up to 15k.

Be sure to look for special assessments, bonds, and direct charges which might be billed in addition to the tax rate.  

I do invest in EFTs, stocks, bonds, CDs. 

I personally think that most people would appreciate inherting a bunch of SFH's but they may be overwhelmed, especially if they don't have experience with real estate.I think seller financed notes would be better to hand off or investments in bonds / securities.Inheriting real estate has issues such as1) What is the value of this real estate?

Let people know they can use their IRAs for more than stocks bonds and mutual funds.

The current bill proposes removing tax exemption from Private Activity Bonds, which are how a good chunk of LIHTC and all bond financed low income housing is funded.

I'm treating this investment essentially like a bond (safe, simi-low return, etc). 

Here is what we do to vet a contractor:1) Verify license, bond, insurance.

We had tried to work with AHI to strengthen our services and unfortunately that has not been the case.