After Hubzu's fees (4.5% for this property, plus technology fee, etc) I have a purchase price of roughly  $237K.Payment terms were cash or conventional financing only. 

Sometimes educated and smart are not the same thing. 

Getting your feet wet learning how to deal with tenants, contractors, property mgt, etc on a smaller scale (SFH or duplexes) and putting your systems in place is the smart thing to do before you scale up to multi-families.Good luck and again, welcome to BP!

From what I gather, it is a smart thing to do, as it gives you another level of "insurance" in case you get into trouble. 

Hey guys!  I self manage about 35-40 properties.  I'm fairly new to the management side, so I was wondering what management software people are using?  My CPA does my accounting, otherwise I'd use quickbooks.  I have ...

Thank you both for the advice, I am gradually collecting information to help me make smart moves without making too many "trial by error" mistakes. 

I have that beginner desire to want to jump right in but want to be smart about it, so my thought process is to really focus on paying off the loans and in the meantime learn the most I can about real estate investing and find a mentor to work for on the side and learn from in the meantime.

There are a lot of smart people here. 

I also live in Pleasanton and work in technology.

I work in Financial Technology, managing the systems used to price, trade, and value financial products.