I think multi-family is lower risk in general if you have a larger number of units.

This will work really well with larger multifamily, but it can be beneficial at any level. 

You want to have an open line of communication with your CPA at all times; you shouldn't have to worry about how much a phone call or email is going to cost you.Constant communication is needed throughout the course of the year because REIs always have so many things happening at once and everything has some sort of tax consequence or implication.What you're paying for is value...

Just chat up the neighbors and do the nod, nod, wink, wink sort of thing :)  where are you anyways?

It probably does not really "save" on taxes in a tax-deferred structure, but would allow you through the benefits of tax-deferral to mushroom that income to a larger amount over time. 

Things progress from there to scaling with larger multi-family properties, commercial real estate, and so on.I'm wondering what experienced investors would do with the knowledge they've gained if they were starting from scratch and had $500k-$1m starting capital.

The difficulty that I am having is when it comes to larger items, such as New HVAC and knowing how much to put away given its useful life when a property is acquired, Painting a property, new roofs (along with determining its useful life), redo of blacktop for parking lots (especially older properties).....these larger capital expenditure items are a lot more difficult to determine in my opinion aside from putting money away for unforeseen maintenance items or vacancy. 

Purchase price + reno costs.Bank will then lend 80% of the property value once renovated.I use these on some larger projects that I don’t want to tie up a large sum of cash up front.

Both sites make it clear they do not insure the property is free of liens, mortgages and other encumbrances.How do I make sure that upon purchasing the property that I am not subject to all sorts of hidden burdens that were formerly the responsibility of the previous owner?

What sorts of marketing strategies or platforms can be used?