not one or two.and I know others that got criminal charges and ended up in jail as there business model was to get into title never pay on the first and rip the rents until the bank took the home.. 

Ive been here about 14 years, and continue to serve on active duty.  

There are quite a few Meetup groups in the Bay Area that are active (I attend several and rarely see the same people at any given event).

Here are a few for you:Pros- Online account access- Online payments- Prompt responses to e-mails and voicemails- Good criminal background and credit checks- Actually calling past landlords, employers, etc.Cons- Charging a credit card processing fee- Lack of advertising (e.g. only posting the rental on the company website)- Lack of communication during vacancies (e.g. not providing me with updates on repairs, tenants applications, etc.)- Only using in-house maintenance (e.g. if your one guy can't get to something for a couple weeks then hire a contractor)

I have been looking at county records to find leads and my question is how do I know if the record is still current and active?

Whether you're a realtor that can help us find properties, an investor that wants to work together to get us started in return for whatever we can possibly do for you, or even someone active whom we can help and follow around to learn some stuff firsthand, please reach out!

A good buyers agent, who is an active investor, is the single biggest advantage you can get.

The two common choices for doing so are the self-directed IRA and the Solo 401k.The Solo 401k requires self-employment activity, but will allow you to take participant loans while the IRA does not.A few other Solo 401k benefits:Compared to an IRA, Solo 401k contributions limits are roughly ten times higher.There is no custodial requirement for the 401k.You don't need the additional expense and administration of an LLC to have checkbook control.There is a built in-Roth component whereas IRAs are either traditional or Roth, not both.A spouse can also participate in the same Solo 401k plan.The Solo 401k has additional tax benefits over an IRA when investing into real estate using leverage.The penalties for prohibited transactions are less severe, though it's best not to utilize this benefit :)With either structure, it's generally recommended that you do not commingle retirement and non-retirement assets.

Yes, they will happily take my business, but I haven't found anyone who will give advice and be pro-active about pushing the deal through.

There seems to be a lot of activity in 53218 and 53209.