Hi BP,I've heard too many horror stories on property management companies that are not doing their job properly (i.e. do not provide best advice on hazards, termites, do not try to save money when it comes to minor and major fixes around the house and in general do not act as the owner proxy and serve his best interest).From one hand, for 10% (especially on low income neighborhoods) I realize (but not understand) that I can not expect property manager to take care of my house as its own.

Mailers might work on smaller properties (success rate is super low) but rarely on bigger properties.Plus, why waste your time?

, but since each property should really be in a separate LLC, can't the root LLC be in a state with low fees / no reporting requirements like New Mexico?

Real property is not exempted by CA usury law.With little exception, if your loan is in excess of 10% APR in CA it's usurious and subject to penalties unless you have an exemption.

To me, the NOI and cap rate seem low especially after you take into account a debt payment for the property.

FYI - my credit score used to be in the low 800's and I owned a $700,000 home in MN and I regularly scour myfico for help on letters, disputes, validations, etc.  

They put 20% down and LTV of 80%.This is bigger stuff though 30,50 million etc.Previous year interest rates were low in the 4's so could pay 5 caps.

One side is trashed (tenants moved out and it needs a lot of cosmetic work.. thus the motivated seller and low price) the other unit is being rented for $800/mo.Thoughts?

This is because the barrier to entry is low and there is no minimum standard for competence.

Or you can just trust that, given the low interest rate on your mortgage and the length of time it'd take to realize the savings (i.e. you don't save all $76k today, you accumulate the savings over 20+ years), that $76k becomes a much smaller number in "real" dollars.