First step would be to read as many books or listen to as many podcasts as you can to understand both the buying process and how to identify a property as a good deal or not.

@Arshiya Taami- thanks ...definitely get  fully pre approved for a  hypotehtical purchase price/ loan amount - this process is free  and  easy  and  it will allow you to  become educated and organized . 

But my understanding is also that there can be tremendous tax benefits / write offs when it comes to real-estate.I am looking for more guidance from professionals on how to structure my investments and how I could potentially harness the power of depreciation and write-offs to legally save money on my active earned income.

It helps ease into the process without diving into major renovations. 

I don't have any insight into DIY (although I plan to do a good deal of DIY when I buy my house hack in 2024).Everything is a learning process and if you don't know how to do something, have full confidence that you can learn how to do it.

The other spectrum is when the investor plays attorney and did not run it by an attorney and realizes they did not understand the legal process and are like “wait, I bought this thinking I could do X but I cannot because of Y”, - and a common response is “your attorney did not advise you of this in due diligence” and the response is we did not use an attorney.

So to that end we would supply the up front cash to build and the government would pay us upon completion taking away the whole draw process. 

Though, this process will be the same for the other state (if you created a CA LLC you may need to register it as a foreign LLC in the state in which you are doing business/holding property).

If going with a full custom plan (e.g. you have a unique lot layout that will require a customized layout)… closer to $10K, including construction drawings, title 24 energy report & electrical layout, permit processing-Permits: $5K is typically what the total costs to the city will run for an ADU, even with the waived feesConstruction costs: $250/sqft + $10K-Building costs: typically $250/sf to start, for vertical building only.

This might entail making your initial investment in a single-family house, duplex, or triplex.Always keep in mind that investing in real estate is a process that calls for commitment, never-ending learning, and long-term thinking.