My view at this time is that it could easily take 10 years for a purchase to be financially beneficial over renting. 

Since this is not their primary business, this type of lender prefers to build a mutually beneficial relationship with just a handful of investors, rather than providing capital on a large scale.STABBL loansS.T.A.B.B.L. stands for a short-term, asset-backed, bridge loan.

Knowing the potential upfront costs, is there anything else I should be thinking about doing / having in place upfront that would be beneficial from a tax perspective?

It's a great way to keep each other accountable and discuss real estate with people of the same experience level and goals.Some other people have shifted their real estate strategies and have found other forums or websites more beneficial for their real estate niche.

Watching the property prices with their crazy increases makes us want to sell and take some profit but we know from a business standpoint, it would not be beneficial to our long term plan.

With this it would be beneficial for you as well as your tenants to hire a property manager.

Since I'm currently living in LA, I just wasn't sure if it was more beneficial to have both properties under 1 LLC or have them in an LLC for the own separate state location. 

My question is, how should i go about locating mentors without signifigant capital to offer to make a mutually beneficial relationship?

Starting off with those less expensive properties on a shorter term has been beneficial to my overall growth.

The owner is open to selling (not cash-strapped or anxious to sell necessarily), but with the potential sales price and current interest rates, I'm looking to see if there's some sort of Creative Financing option that would be beneficial enough for the owners to consider it.