Michael,That is quite impressive 130 units! 

I've been impressed by First American Exchange although haven't worked with them yet.

So this whole time I have been under the impression that you can get conventional mortgages on rental properties without occupying them yourself, I already own two houses but they were paid for in cash so this will be my first time borrowing but I spoke to my banker and he said that if you do not plan to live in the residence 60 days after closing that they must me financed as a commercial loan, he said this is not a bank policy, but a Fannie may or something like that, I would really light some insight on this because I am new to the world of lending and 5% down and lower rates sounds way better than 20%, thanks

This creates an impression, that we are creating quality and value in our neighborhoods. 

I have a home in Hawaii which I purchased in November 2019 under the impression that it would be my forever home (RE investing wasn’t something I knew about).

Finally, given that I will be my first purchase, it seems like the loan approval for the property would reduce the number of ways where I can screw up.However, I recently came across some stories where people buy ~$15k houses and do impressive renovations (roof, floors, kitchen, bath) for ~$15k due to the fact that those properties are in less populated areas and have cheap rehab costs.

I am very impressed with your background.

All in all my confidence level as a rehabber, General Contractor and Investor is stronger as I was able to deliver and the bank was impress with what I have done; they guaranteed approval on my next project once the building has sold which I already bought the next property which I found on FB marketplace. 

My impression was - even if you have local S Corp in FL, since its pass through and we are CA resident, it will be taxed in CA no matter what. 

I’m under the impression my lease and the landlords permission gives me the right to sublet as an agreement between my landlord and myself, not the business of the new sublettors.