Turbo Tax for a full service paid advisor now is something like $1,500 if you pay full price, and that is with you getting some random preparer that you won't get the same one each year, won't be available throughout the year, and isn't going to take the time to strategize and help it get done. 

If you go ahead and accept random STR bookings here or there it would be hard to get an MTR guest.

You're trying to math your way to a market, which is understandable given the prices in California, but unfortunately what we see this lead to is investors buying in a random market thousands of miles away, in a challenging neighborhood, without a team that they know in place, and then they just lose money. 

This makes them far more valuable than random contacts because the motivation is built in.

Sitting down for a random coffee to field questions (without context or compensation) isn’t how most folks spend their time — especially when a lot of those same questions have already been answered here on BP, in books, or in local REIAs.If you really want one-on-one help, a better route is to:Join your local REIA (Augusta has one — networking there is gold).

Buying a random property just to "do a deal" and lose money would take you backwards, not forwards.

Since this is our primary residence, how does a DST interact with the $500K capital gains exclusion?

Sometimes it's hard to know, or something random will happen you need to pay for, but the more you can do upfront the better. 

It seems that the ordinance restricts to 60 days per year if you do not reside in the property but I am curious if anyone has found any creative ways to get around that. 

@Marcus Pender, Since you would be staying in that house for 2 years, you would qualify for the primary residence exclusion, which allows you to exclude up to $250,000 of capital gains on the sale of your primary residence if you’re single, or up to $500,000 if married filing jointly.