JD Martin - agreed, you'd have to for any post-rental repairs.And yes, I can see how that would be a really great strategy if you were marketing to investors especially.Do you see any potential tax pitfalls where the IRS could still find you doing business as a ‘dealer’ versus ‘investor’ and you lose the tax preferential status?

If you want to make some assumptions about the long term future state, and you plan on holding a LONG time (10+ years), then I suggest you look at historical pricing and rents to determine average appreciation rates over the last 10, 20, 30 years which would cover several boom/bust cycles.

HiHow do you find out about who the investor is on any loan?I have 3 short sales that I am working on and knowing who the investor(s) are will help to fast track the process.

who determines what the interest is?

I think you need to analyze far more deals than five a week and determine how you're going to find these off market properties and establish goals for your marketing method.

You will have to hunt around a bit to determine which ones.

(you live in LA, you know that if you sneeze wrong you have a lawsuit attached to you lol) I know that there are other advantages to an LLC for flips like not being seen as a dealer through the IRS eyes.  

So you should determine an investment strategy and what problems you will fix so you can add value to properties you acquire.This is one common strategy: Acquire a property at a good price and in an area that is appreciating.

My suggestion is to determine which type of investing to do and then research the hell out of it in the forums and blogs. 

I used rentometer to determine rental prices, but they charge after 10 searches.