I have about 150K to invest with the same amount in reserves (but could be used to increase my position).

A LLC will not provide any better protection at your point in investing and will only increase your operating costs and make it more difficult to get financing going forward.Insurance is the real protection, LLC is more for psychological protection.

It will end up saving you both a lot of time and increase efficiency.

I have a duplex that I am currently house hacking, which should cash flow about $400/mo when I move out, but am looking at the possibility of adding another bedroom or bath to one of the units, as well as possibly adding one or two units which could potentially increase the cash flow.

If you are over 50-60% start systematically reducing the introduction of moisture and increase ventialtion.Make sure the basement is dry, if not check your gutters, downspout extensions and get a dehumidifier.

You'd likely be able to increase rents for that property with renovations, but the higher quality tenants would be hard to come by.

I've increased my offer but I dont expect the seller to accept it.

Could be things like...Short termCash on Cash returncash flow Deal sizePrice per unitLong termIRRTotal equity increase Cap rate at resaleWould love your insights on which ones are most important and what numbers you use as a minimum for each before you would consider moving forward on a deal.Thanks!

Plus we are on track to see the High speed rail come to Bakersfield in the coming years as well which will increase the population 3x within the next 30 years, as an estimate.  

Yes, that really did happen.So if you have too many deadbeats, maybe you should re-examine your qualification standards and screen your tenants better.