Why are we paying this: He didn't pay taxes or insurance on the house for years, voiding the agreement.

They have been the send everything in at the end of the year and let me know what my taX bill will be type.

I've calculated the tenant-occupied vs. owner-occupied ratio and understand that for expenses that are for shared areas, that ratio would be applied at tax time to deduct. 

I am looking into tax lien investing.

@Marco Silva data: population growth, job growth, housing supply, landlord friendly laws, purchase price, anticipated rehab cost, property tax rates, insurance cost, is insurance cost rising quickly, expected rent, rate of rent growth, can someone with the median income afford the rent, diversification of the economy, quality of local schools, crime rates, is the property next door a dump, how many other people are bidding on the property, is there a Starbucks nearby, is there a grocery store nearby, are there multiple property managers nearby in case one fails.There's so many ways to find deals, to name a few: MLS, wholesalers, foreclosure auction, tax sale auction, doing your own marketing through a bunch of different channels like direct mail.

Are you in a higher income tax position?

I'm getting the application process started with our city to obtain a license to do short-term rentals.With this being - said we're thinking that it might be time to get an accountant to support us during tax season as we enter this new venture. 

We live in Los Angeles, both are self employed 1099 independent contractors, combined annual income roughly 250k pre-tax.

Also if you keep one as a rental and own that you could use that as collateral as wellSide note just remember you will pay taxes on your gains so if you make $50k make sure to leave some money set aside for taxes

In addition to no state income taxes and pro-business government, the cost of electricity is relatively low.