California is heavily regulated, so I recommend you join the California Apartment Association or something like that to help navigate the laws.Generally speaking, you have a verbal agreement to the new rate and deposit.

From what I have read the majority of section 8 tenants have been vetted heavily by their case worker.

I can’t tell if that would be wasting my time, or if I shouldn’t rely so heavily on first impressions. 

Hey Josh, I am an active investor in the DFW Market and I strive heavily on sourcing off-market deals.

Since the BRRRR strategy relies so heavily on that third "R," you're taking on a huge amount of risk by dumping your money or, even worse, other people's money into a property.

You reminded me that I need to more heavily consider maintenance reserves, and liquid reserves in general.  

If you wish to be heavily active, I suggest you go down the road I did so you can not only learn, but potentially make more money by saving on some costs.Some contractors will not do labor only and will only do the job if they provide the materials so keep that in mind to.

From what I have read, they have cracked down on this pretty heavily...

You do win either way, it's really a question of if the huge capital gain (though taxed more heavily now) could be parlayed into more investments potentially. 

It's heavily "asset-based lending"/cashflow.