Simple , sell them the washer and dryer for 10 bucks each .

Michael Nieves Simple math time!

When dealing with friends and family, can it be as simple saying, "Here's $50k - pay me back plus X-amount in interest in 6 months" and shaking on it, or does an attorney need to draft something in writing?

In a lot of places it’s far from simple to go from one to five units.

The pickings are going to be really slim or non existent to find a SFH in the Ocotillio area. 

Most of the time it’ll be a simple single member llc that’s a disregarded entity for tax reasons anyways.

Hudson, Auction.com, Xome, HudHomeStore.com, RealtyBid, Hubzu, etc.But there are always bigger players like us that get access to them before they are listed anywhere, so you're picking through leftovers via any of these methods.For the most part, "listed REOs" is a dead market being bid up by every newbie so there aren't many deals to be found there. 

I leave the rest of the rental income in the bank account for any future expenses.Is there a more simple way to do this?

@Colby Mulry Depends on your overall financial situation if you'll need the additional protection a LLC provides.Search 'LLC' and pick from the hundreds of topics that exist on this issue to read.

I'm definitely a big fan of the BRRRR model so I would say you've picked right.