I definitely wouldn't look to buy in LA right now because the price for admission is too high for me right now haha.  

If you do not have that, it will likely be on you to address, absent any admission or proof the damage is due to tenant negligence or damage.

I would try to stick to grad students or visiting professors or other workers at the college (admission counselors, athletic coaches, interns, etc) 

I was not aware that email is not admissable in court.

With four prospective future college tuitions and the ever-increasing price of admission financial freedom is a must. 

Finally, (this feels like it's turning into an essay) another idea I've been strongly considering is beginning my own property management business.

Ellis your response in particular expands beyond mere prose   wandering perilously close to the realm of literature, something one might have expected to read in a short story or essay :)   You are surely right in the observation that the fairness of the terms of a deal is always shaped and conditioned by whichever  side of the table one is sitting on.  

By your own admission, if 80% of the property is uninhabitable with the remaining 20% requiring renovation to get it in any sort of livable condition and you went to a traditional/regular bank, the response you got from the mortgage officer is sort of accurate.

When investors suggest using separate checking accounts for each property, that is an obvious admission that they can't manage money and lack basic business aspects to finance.

It is buy one, get one admission free.