Quote from @Arkadiy Iliyayev: Thanks for the reply Jake, I really appreciate itIf you cut Brownsville in four pieces using the interstate to divide east and west and Ruben Torres to divide north and south, you'd be safe buying basically anything north of Ruben Torres with the notable exception of Cameron Park.

Hey Eddie,I am a loan officer in CO, licensed in Colorado, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.

The programs are created for investors who buy distressed homes, repairing them and then either selling them or holding them for rental income and flipping the hard money loan to a long term DSCR loan where the rents will underwrite the loan.Program availability vary by state.

The plan is to live in the worse off unit regardless of what property we end up buying. 

So you can buy a four flat, live in one unit and rent the other three, but you have to live in one unit on the site. 

Since I'm not buying properties in cash (nor willing to accept a commercial rate for a conventional deal) I am doubtful of deeding property to a Holding LLC after close - it seems risky (and wouldn't that pierce the corporate veil already?).

If you want to tap into that equity please reach out as I am a loan officer.

Hello, Guillermo Kennedy, have you considered a loan officer position? 

I'm not afraid to buy, in fact I hate money sitting in the bank doing nothing for me.

This means that you will probably need to pay registration and filing fees in at least 2 states if you don’t buy CA property as a CA resident.Any lawsuits should be limited to the assets of the LLC and not your personal assets (assuming you run the LLC appropriately and the corporate veil is not pierced, some debate as to SMLLC).