I'm guessing you had childhood friends whose parents "moved to LA to become an actor" and whatnot).

I like checking out walk score which provides a lot of good information about neighborhoods and what not.  

[definately, the fact you went to law school and passed - rockets you up on any resume. use that to your advantage] get good at contracts and deadlines and what not and you will be well ahead. in terms of how you execute and what advice I would have to check with the legal hotline with the CA Associaton of Realtors legal hotline]2) Should I focus on a specific area of real estate sales because of my background such as probate sales or short sales, or something else I haven't identified?

I will rent to someone who has never been evicted, has positive references from past landlords, and makes 3x rent, but has a low credit score of 525 (maybe because they missed a few medical bills or whatnot) any day over a person with a higher credit score (say 650) but has had an eviction filed against them, or has negative references. 

Of course renting per room makes for greater cash flow but guess what? Not

I now know what to do and what not to do and what i didnt do enough.

Take your pick of mean or median income, depending on statistical distributions and what-not - but that is what the cap on rent will be.

I'm totally willing to put myself out there and do what it takes ( i cold call and door knock and what not).

Laws for evictions and what not are a little different though so be sure to study up so you know what you need to do.

He was family man, drove a Ford station wagon (nothing fancy), and even way back then I think he was worth hundreds of millions of dollars; with 1000's of acres and countless projects in development.He saw decades in advance, what not many people could.