I am brand new to real estate investing and was hoping to bounce my situation off of some experienced investors.

And judges like to borrow from existing case law that is similar to what they are deciding – it is both easier than reinventing the wheel and tends to appease their preference for consistency.Now could a judge decide to make up brand new law for deciding if rentals are a business for purposes of 162?

Just food for thought, I'm a relative newbie compared to many experts here so feel free to agree/disagree strongly.

Subs are busy with lots of other jobs and have better relationships with certain GC's than with a brand new face trying to GC. 

The city is vibrant with good job growth, and there is a strong rental market and short-term airbnb does well there, and lots of smaller multi-families with good bones.

@Anne @Anne Smith California has very strong tenant laws making it difficult to evict tenants.

Some people love managing their properties and do so happily, but if that decision is not motivated by a strong desire to learn by doing, you may find your stamina waning sooner than you think, so just be honest with yourself.Going OOS can be done a couple ways, as mentioned by other commenters.

It works for branding - we haven't done it long enough to really know if it brings deals but I figure you can't hurt yourself by having your name out there everywhere. 

I think it's hard to compete trying to sell a rehabbed 2 story 50- 100 year old property when someone next door is trying to sell a brand new 3 story with a roof deck for a relatively similar same price.

I do still think that Texas and Florida for example have room to grow because of the strong population and jog growth. would it become another LA.