I'd test the waters a little bit before getting too official.  

It's not terribly hard to do so but there are many steps.Your question about raising money may not be necessary depending on how much working capital you have to start with.

I am born and raised in SB, but now live in LA for my Masters of Real Estate Development.

I was born and raised there!

Hello everyone,My name is Jesus, a young man born and raised in NYC.

I think investors today are more focused on raising rents.Instead of keeping tenants long.

Naturally this sparked my RE interest, so I finished all the RE licensing requirements and am gearing up to take the test!

I made contact with the tenants after paying for it and was able to view the inside which was immaculate and I was able work out a new lease and raise the rent $300/month from their previous month to month agreement. 

I have heard that "if you find the right deal, you can always find the financing," so I am testing that theory.

SoCal is not a place for cashflow unless you hold a very long time and even then....i live down the hill from you and invest in AZ, KC and Indy for that reason.your best chance in SoCal would be to buy a dumpy duplex to live in and rent out one half. that would allow you to build up sweat equity as you would fix up your half then switch sides and repeat. you could raise rents and likely sell for good profit (depending on market of course) upon exit....or just use increased rent to have a nicer unit paid down fastergood luck