I had 2 tenants sign a lease/ rent when they still had a month left on their old apartments and they just took the hit because they wanted it.There are always people getting divorced, relocating or leaving the nest.

I'm unfamiliar with their practice. 

Regardless of the IL shenanigans, best practice is to build a relationship with someone you can trust as opposed to feeding off the bottom price.  

Relocation Assistance (California Law):  "https://www.flgch.com/blog/wha...Due to the housing crunch in your state (we have it here too), Landlords with "no fault tenants" can be left with paying one month's rent to the departing tenant for relocation.  2. 

(This doesnt extend to out of the area people relocating here, I love relocations).  

As Jordan mentioned, your most realistic and practical route is to secure a W2, save your capital, build your credit, and minimize any outstanding debt you owe.

They were my good friends, so I bought the business back so they could relocate their family to a lower area of cost of living.

The world of maintenance has changed quickly to stop the practice of 30-day billing.

Wondering if I should buy it through our newly setup LLC or buy it under our name.Background:-we are both physicians practicing for greater than 10 years, have multiple assets via outside investments and collectible cars, etc, so we set up a LLC for the REI venture-obtained HELOC (primary residence) for $164k fixed at 3.39% for 30 years ($726/mo) through our long-term bank (since 2007)-buying our first investment residential property for $215k all cash, due to multiple bids SFP with seller choosing us due to cash buy and they rejected a higher offer that required mortgage contingency (BP calculator: +$145/mo cash flow after HELOC, expenses, etc)1.

I’d recommend checking out Kelly’s Take on YouTube and doing a bunch of practice problems.