Do this until you earn enough to be able to close the deals yourself.You'll be giving a lot of houses back to people IMO at this stage and that's not the way it's doneYou can also get your license to have another avenue for deals.

I would love to own properties but at this stage in life I don’t have the funds to support that.

Most refinance cash back you will get is 75% but no stress or haggle or excessive proof

Post-auction excess funds recovery work.

I know it depends a lot on which stage they are in as far as foreclosure goes, but even so...should i pursue these property owners?

I agree if you hit a astronomical amount in your reserve fund I’d start moving the excess to other things like additional savings for other properties or if you are done buying properties start taking some extra cash in your pocket monthly until you have to replenish your fund. 

I am planning to start an LLC to purchase my first investment property.Question 1:Can I use excess depreciation from that property to offset taxes paid through my day job S-CORP?

I'm still in the stage of sharpening my axe by reading  books , listening  podcasts and attending webinars , but  leaning towards doing a BRRRR strategy outside CA in due time.

While I understand what @Lucas Carl said about AirBnBers not reading anything, this seems excessive to me.

  $11.18 million is the 2018 tax year amount.Generally no gift tax is due as long as the donor has available lifetime exclusion to offset the gift amount in excess of the annual exclusion.It appears your family member will have a gift tax return filing obligation next spring.