We are set to close on a property by the 31st of July per contract.   

How the work environment is set up by the manager will really dictate the overall mood of your house and will be reflected quickly to families when they come to tour.3.

Hello, I think it’s really awesome that you’re just now beginning and you are already coming to the forums to learn so the first thing you need to do is to continue to stay on the forms and you also need to be reading all of the bigger pocketbook and start listening to their podcast to soak up as much knowledge as you can and as long as you do that, you will have all the knowledge you need to start and regarding your question I do not advise to buy a single-family house just to live in it without a rental property aspect so it’s OK if you want to live in the house as well but you will have to either get a multifamily property or you could also buy a single-family home and rent out the other rooms  now see when you have a property that you use just for your family then you have to pay the mortgage every month which is building your equity, but that responsibility is solely on you whereas if it has some sort of rental property aspect, there will be other people helping you build that equity if you were to buy a property just for yourself that is something that will be taking money out of your pocket every month while as a rental property if you buy right will be putting money in your pocket every month the only exception to what I just said is if you buy a property for yourself or just for your family to live in, you could do a live-in flip to where as you’re living in the property you rehab it while your living there and if you buy right with enough knowledge, then when you turn around to sell the property, you will make profit

I set my realtor who has only 4 years of experience but she does investing. it is hard for me to gauge how good the realtor is since I am also new/first time home buyer. 

If the property is master-metered, consider setting up a RUBS (Ratio Utility Billing System) program to bill back some of the costs.

I have experience as an SFR investor (rentals), as a realtor as well as corporate experience in mortgage lending and servicing practices from a large bank - all of which I will leverage to grow my MLO career.

Plan either way would be to self represent (with a little help) and apply commissions towards closing which is why I referenced being an agent as well.

I would suggest working with an agent who knows the market well.

I was living in the Los Angeles area as well when I started my "Out of State" investment journey.

You can start there, but I know small town politics very well and I'm sure they "omitted" to see the deed restrictions.