California property  taxes are relatively low thanks to Prop. 13.

Execution of a quitclaim deed is relatively simple, and requires little more than both parties signing the deed and, if required in the state where it is executed, having the deed notarized, acknowledged before a notary or with a jurat signed before a notary.

It's more related to emotions and lack of rational decision making imo. 

I am a relative newbie to REI from Fremont, CA.

Do you work taxes year-round, so if I had questions that were tax-related, would you be able to help out during the tax off-season?

Interested in hearing about a personal experience related to delayed financing, where an investor teamed up with a bank to pull money out in a relatively short period of time in order to reinvest equity in another property without the 1-2 year seasoning.  

@Andrew CaldieraroAge is all relative. 

There’s other contingencies you can use too, financing, feasibility, environmental, neighborhood review...Have your DD start the 1st business day after they provide you with all the documents, P&L sure, but also you’d want title docs, details on mechanicals like age, repair history and warranty status, insurance claim history for the last 5 years, every scrap of detail on any pending claims, zoning use confirmation from relevant govt entity, copies of all docs they have received from any govt authority related to the property for the past 5 years... there you’d be looking for code violations, notices from EPA or fire marshal, etc.  

After I get done the pile of books I have related to note investing, does anyone have good suggestions on ways I can get started that can help me get my feet wet?

Your cpa should figure this out relatively quickly.