Energy efficiency (low utility costs for the tenants)5.

For me, it's vital that the people I work with communicate efficiently with me and are willing to answer as many questions as I have.

@Daniel HessUsing an IRA owned LLC is generally a more effective and efficient way to manage an asset such as rental property in an IRA.  

I've found that the most efficient use of time for wonky scenarios like this is to collect all income docs and shoot it over to an underwriter or two.I believe I know the answer, I'd say I'm about 90% certain (not a lot of truck drivers are in the market to become homeowners in the SF Bay Area, so I'm thinking of other professions w/ per diem for my mental examples).

The contractor actually gets PUNISHED for being efficient and spending thousands of dollars on tools to make him more efficient.

What is the easiest and most efficient way for you to network with people?

As you can see from the responses @Johnnie Hawkins you will get opinions on both sides and both with make good arguments for their opinions but in reality, there is only way correct way to do this legally, ethically, and efficiently.

I don't want to get too many inputs and outputs going on at once, so I'm trying to focus on the top factors a person would want to look at for what makes for an efficient return on investment.I've grabbed numbers on some different properties, and it's been pretty interesting to see what different combinations of factors tend to come out on top.

(make sure to invest in a tax efficient manner)Start doing Mega-Back Door Roth 401(k) contributions and Roth IRA contributions to put away about $50+ per year so its never taxed.Use the investment portfolio as collateral to do real estate deals.Possibly set up a donor advised fund for charitable giving and managing taxes.

Does anyone use quick books or have a suggestion for other software that would make my time more efficient.