You may not get landlording experience but you'll get maintenance, financing, and paperwork experience.I think the discussion points in your head and with them are around what kind of improvements they would need or desire (if you have to make it elderly accessible that could be a selling point for the next tenants, but what if they want something that will cause you more upkeep in the future?)

I've submitted about dozen resumes on positions ranging from Apartment Manager, apartment maintenance technician to Managing apartment managers...  

Flipping houses and owning a painting business can actually complement each other very well, in terms of cross-selling services, developing connections, and new opportunities among other things.I guess my point is, before leaving an existing venture, make sure you have formally done your diligence via a business model, business plan, marketing strategy, etc.  

@Jd Martin after reading what you said I understand how vague my question was, I apologize.I wanted to live in the first duplex until I get 10 units or enough to pay for my dream home which is modest because I was raised in such a ugly and poor place that just having groceries is a luxury to me.I don't plan to have kids so having a small house with a pool and low maintenance would be a hoot and a half.

This is a good place to start as they have the more experienced staff there and you don't have to have such a defined idea of what you want.They will look up these tools amongst other things (these tools are awesome btw):http://zimas.lacity.org/http://navigatela.lacity.org/navigatela/There you'll get a load of information from zoning to issues related to the property to details of the property to services in the area, whether it's a landslide zone, hydrants, sewer, RSO, Ellis Act and much more.

Once you become advanced you can reach out to services like Podio, but this seems to be a good starting area!

Has anyone used a third party billing service to bill tenants in a building that is sub metered?  

You might be able to do this as an annual subscription to an information service versus getting involved in transactions. 

Since they have an oral agreement and the agreement has been executed by service rendered from painting the properties.

Hi, I'm trying to decide on an online service for credit/background checks for some upcoming rentals.