I am going to assume college gave her little in the way of financial education, so I think this would be a great opportunity to provide it. 

You're correct that you could take care of your own taxes with some hand-holding, education and what-not.

It would be helpful if this agent is open to educating us on LA real estate.

Also I dont think you can invest with pre tax dollars period unless your current entity is a c-corp and you use the c-corp as sole owner of a new c-corp,  i could be wrong as I am not a CPA

It is not required, but you will have to be able to segregate for taxes.Many states also require that a separate bank account be used for the security deposits.Read your tenant-landlord law, get educated, you need to confidently know your processes.

I'll have to provide a little real estate education (based on what I've begun to learn on BP) to really make a solid case.

@Abel RodriguezPLEASE get a home inspection, period.

./104th)Purchase and sale agreement, with a standard escrow.Escrow closes upon date certain, or when the city issues unappealabel entitlements, zoning etc.DD of some period, 30, 60, 90 day, with some non-refundable upon reaching this date.Reason to do it this way is you have a solid contract, if and when you receive zoning, you can close without question.

Thank you for your time,MoosaHi Moosa,I'm in the same boat in determining that now as we've been priced out here in South Florida (currently have 3 properties - a house hack duplex, a long term and a short term vacation rental) I'm also starting my education on that with David Greene's "Long Distance Real Estate Investing" which is referenced on BP quite frequently, so that's probably a great first step. 

You also find a transactional lender, which means someone willing to loan you money to purchase the house for a very short period of time.