California charges a minimum tax of $800 a year per LLC, and more if you have gross receipts in excess of $250k.

I am still in the beginning stages of self-education and I hope to find my niche in the coming months.

Education, I am still in the learning stage.

You may be able to apply self leveling grout and only use in areas with excessive dips and holes. 

This has been some planning in the stages for the past several months and I am looking to possibly break ground in late September/October depending on permit approval. 

However, I'm not at that stage of my education just yet, a quick search on the podcasts showed the below link.

I offer professional photos, basic staging, open houses every two weeks and reasonably staged price cuts and I’ve sold every property I’ve ever listed.

I am in exactly the same position - totally new to RE investing, and still in the learning/soaking up knowledge stage.

If you buy something over that amount then you have to put down 25% of the excess. 

If the cost is excessive because of the flower beds and nice things, you maybe could pick up some of the cost because tenants won’t appreciate or want to rent to properties where they pay high maintenance cost for things they won’t need or really care about.