If your not ready to spend money on a software you can use tax records.

Mello Roos are bonds that are floated to do off and on site development and then added to the tax bill. there is also 1915 act bonds etc.. if there was not the ability to float bonds CA would never have developed as it has as the up front captial for major improvements would have been a major stumbling block..

Landlord beware.S8 will schedule an inspection for your property.

I've been knocking on doors, there is one that seems like it's abandoned, however despite finding the owners name from tax records I cannot seem to get in contract with them to make an offer (despite trying x, y and z). 

High taxes.

I want to take advantage of growth if possible, but also want to minimize taxes and fees (penalties).

Tax Savings:While it’s true that the stock market has been strong, real estate offers unique tax advantages that aren’t available with other asset classes.

although we bought about 6 years ago or so for 270 put 100k into it so you can do the math  no debt .. hoa 400  we pay utls. 200 or so.. so 600 a month out of the 3500.. tax's about 1500 a year ( got to love Vegas taxs ) value today right at 600k.. so lets say we net about 33k a year on 370k cash .. so not bad little under 10% COC with an outstanding tenant one of the best I have ever had.PS given tenant quality we manage ourselves.. 

I think THIS can be better than a 1031 exchange because the seller will start off with a fresh depreciation schedule in the new property.

This is obviously much better than $1,400 per month.On top of that, you will now get 2x the depreciation write-off so your taxes should go down.On top of that, you will now get 2x the appreciation when real estate price go up.On top of that, your tenants are helping you pay down the loan, initially at about $100/mo for both properties, which gradually gets better and better.On top of that, you now have more units so if one or two goes vacant, you have more renters covering the losses of the vacant units.If you want to keep these properties, I would do a cash-out refi and go buy more rental real estate.