Hey @Sharon Israel I’ll be straightforward here...I’ve never invested in Tampa, so I’m a bit biased toward Metro Atlanta.

.• From a tax perspective, LLCs in CA are pass-through, so the income and depreciation still flow to your personal return.Texas rentals:• Texas doesn’t have a state income tax, which makes holding STRs here more straightforward.• An LLC in TX can give you liability protection without the heavy franchise taxes CA charges (the TX franchise tax only kicks in above ~$2.47M revenue in 2025).• If your STRs qualify under the STR material participation rules, you could use bonus depreciation to offset W-2 income—LLC ownership doesn’t take that away since income still flows through.Cross-state strategy:• You don’t necessarily need one LLC per property—many investors group properties (by state or risk profile).• You could form a Texas holding LLC and register it as “foreign” in CA if you want uniformity, but this means you’ll still pay CA’s $800 tax per year.• A common approach: keep CA rentals in your own name with strong insurance, put TX STRs in a TX LLC, and avoid mixing states in one entity.Tax angle:• Whether you hold rentals in an LLC or personally, depreciation, expenses, and Section 179/bonus depreciation still flow through to your return.• The entity affects liability more than taxes—unless you elect S-Corp treatment for active businesses (not usually recommended for rentals).This post does not create a CPA-Client relationship.

Once you have a process in place and the right accounts tagged (and use “Classes” to differentiate each property), it should be pretty straightforward with just two properties.One option is booking the PM data on a one-month lag depending on when you get their reports.

If I'm in a place where it's challenging to get non payers out then I just wait for the best candidate.If it's relatively straightforward to evict for non-payment then I use the double deposit / insurance policy route for people who score low on our rubric.Hope this helps.

They communicated well throughout the process, answered all my questions, and made everything feel smooth and straightforward.

Based on our experience and analysis, the most cost-effective and straightforward approach is to start with a basic QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Get it right and the RE investing can be a pretty straight forward business. 

The app is really straightforward, so you can get it running quickly without a big learning curve.RentRedi is another solid choice.

Keeping the cap table straightforward helped us execute fast and stay aligned on the value-add plan.

Quote from @Sameul Ahsan: It’s really straightforward.