There are a lot of great places these days to set up LLC's ,Wyoming is always a top choice amongst investors... as Eric mentioned you will still have to deal with your great state of california.good luck and take care, Sky Mikesell

Like any asset driven business, you need to set-aside sufficient reserves to ensure the long-term viability of the asset (or whether long-term viability is even an option).

It is not their choice.  

Until now, I've been primarily concerned w/ passive MF investing, but the returns aren't yet sufficient to cover more than a small portion of my former salary. 

I doubt many living in these types of parks all over the US qualify if they qualify they are not going to live in these places by choice. 

Unless you have a long track record and feel very confident that would be your choice

The lender can call a title/escrow company of their choice to have them do a refi escrow, and have them issue a lender't title policy.  

I literally do BP calculations on every property that hits market and with 30% down only .2% of them will cash flow sufficiently.

Assuming the seller accepts, then the bank will decide if they like your offer.But you need a cooperative seller / borrower in short sales - doesn't sound like this one is sufficiently cooperative.

DO NOT GIVE EMD to the seller in a short sale (my caps are deliberate); if anything you put the EMD into escrow with your choice of closing agency.