Bryce Travis , unless CA has a different process, the investor places a bid to the same mechanism as an owner occupant after the owner occupant period has expired.You will need an agent to place the offer, so I suggest contacting one and having them walk you through the process.

Okay let me explain, I had a job at Toyota as a mechanic paying me $2,000 a month, however, I also had an ecommerce business where I made between 8-12k a month and I hated my job at Toyota but I had to keep it until I made sure the house would close.

Why would she let you in her house while she still owns it to screw up any "repair" you do that could result in a mechanics lien on the property and all you are doing is putting it on the market through a Realtor and having people tramp thru her house.? 

Well actually not much of a story here...I'm doing a walk through with the contractor to look at the basement after the walls had been parged...and I asked when they would be coming back to do the floor where the washer and dryer will be going...We talked about how to replace the crappy mechanicals that were there and where they'd get run and putting cement board up behind it and as we're looking at the wall that's there...the contractor realizes it's actually the load bearing wall supporting the butler staircase to the kitchen from the second floor.

Hey BP,I was wondering if anyone has advice on how I can apply my mechanical engineering degree to learn more about real estate.

Our firm has been getting involved with some tax attorney's out of Boston that are involved with it and I think we're going to see some pop up over the next few months.You're spot on on with the mechanism for funding the partnership, generally a limited partnership or Corporation is used for the entity vehicle (it doesn't have to be real estate it can be a non-real estate business also).

Complete rehab including mechanicals.

However, if you've become very experienced in negotiating and determining value in a market yourself, then it saves a few bucks when negotiating off market deals.I don't see why people put so much emphasis on avoiding a commission. 

You are selling the property.So, the mechanics for how you get paid will tend to line up with the legal requirements or the way the deal has been structured.Why does the above matter?

Hey Anthony Tarantino, I am currently in school for Mechanical Engineering and am also on Long IslandIt would be great to meet up and discuss the profession and RE investing