The building now was valued the same as before the 2008 financial crisis.

My husband and I have law school and medical school debt that excludes us from traditional lenders.

I'm also learning to do bookkeeping for a friend's company.My broad goal for real estate investing is to earn enough money to be financially independent.

I have had a great time working with Alex Stenback at Alerus Financial.

The fastest way to have financial freedom is more and more leverage.

You could also ask the bookkeeper which CPA does he/she collaborate with and then verify the competence level with with the CPA.If you are concerned about the safety of your financial documents, most cloud based accountants use software (Quickbooks, file sharing services, etc) with bank-level encryption. 

I am currently in the process of obtaining my first buy and hold property..my only dilemma is which route to go in order to finance the property..to give you guys an insight on my scenario I have good credit (740+)..access to down payment money (10,000-15,000)..no prior investment history..Im not sure if I can do a conventional loan because my debt to income ratio may be too high and from my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) Hardmoney lenders are typically better used with flips and rehab properties..can anybody help me understand my options to financing my first buy and hold property😩..thanks, Shane

I was also going to call estate sale, estate clean-out and debt consolidators.

Even if you find a property in CA, chances are, that property alone will not offer you financial freedom.Good luck!

Good luck to you, you will find with more than 50% of rent going to debt service, these are not great cash flow properties at the moment.