Now of course, I have the resources and experience that I can buy in any stage of the market. 

I would clean it and get everything staged, if you are staging and do all other items to get it on the market.

Longer mortgage terms mean slower equity accumulation, higher borrowing costs, and potential conflicts with legislation stemming from the 2008 financial crisis, setting the stage for a major debate if this idea comes to fruition.

That usually sets the stage.

California may still require reporting if you are actively managing them from here, but by that stage the cost is usually justified by the protection and tax benefits.I do not want you to feel discouraged.

Yes, and you can do it safely at your stage.

With Food Stamps you could not buy junk food and beer.Before that, poor people could visit a state run facility where they could pick up cheese,  milk, eggs, flour, bread, meat, peanut butter, potatoes, fruit, produce etc that the government bought as excess products.

I bought it at roughly market value for the long-term debt and strong area fundamentals.At this stage of the amortization schedule, the loan is paying down around $11.5K in principal each year.

In practice, most operators (including platforms like PadSplit) operate successfully without specific licensing because these homes don’t fit the typical short-term rental model—average stays are often six to eight months rather than nightly or weekly.The benefits of this strategy are clear: it helps create affordable housing options in a market where affordability is increasingly scarce, and it fills a short-term housing need for working professionals, students, and those transitioning between life stages.

I determined what I could pay and still hit my profit targets.That discipline at the acquisition stage is what created the $250K profit, not my renovation skills.The Next OneI bought another fourplex about a year ago using the same approach.